Dioro Cissé | May 9, 2024
News Brief
Oury Thera is a young mother in the rural commune of Pélengana, near Ségou in Mali. Her journey to motherhood was difficult, clouded by concerns about infertility, which led her to consult traditional healers. While she struggled with infertility, she endured isolation and prejudice from her own family, and eventually her husband divorced her. After re-marrying, Mrs. Thera sought medical assistance with the support of her new husband. She was treated for a gonorrhea infection, was eventually able to conceive, and is now living happily with her family.
Oury Thera is a young mother in the rural commune of Pélengana, just seven kilometres from Ségou in Mali. As the sun sets on an April evening, she applies shea butter to her toddler son on the porch of her home.
Mrs. Thera reflects on her difficult journey to motherhood, which was clouded by years of struggle against societal prejudice. After three years of marriage, her concerns about not becoming pregnant grew and she consulted traditional healers for two years without any success.
Infertility is a taboo subject in Malian society, due to religious and traditional beliefs. This affected Mrs. Thera’s marital life. She explains, “When you suffer from infertility, your relatives accuse you of witchcraft or being cursed. I was therefore afraid for the future of my marriage and the judgment of my in-laws.” Her in-laws and husband believed she was cursed, and she received no support from them in her infertility struggles. She says, “My in-laws rejected me. I was devastated.”
She was married for five years without becoming pregnant. She says her husband divorced her because of her infertility.
Mrs. Thera eventually gave birth after having successful treatment at the Wassa clinic in Pélengana. Following her divorce, her father advised her to see a doctor, leading to a consultation with a sexual and reproductive health specialist. She was diagnosed with gonorrhea, which impaired her fallopian tubes. Mrs. Thera completed a two-month antibiotic regimen with weekly check-ups, culminating in a full recovery. Now remarried, she continues to receive support from a gynecologist, with encouragement from her new husband.
She says, “When I met my [second] husband, I explained my past. We decided to consult a gynecologist to get assistance.”
Dr. Mamadou Kewou is the head of the Wassa Clinic in Pélengana. He says, “We speak of infertility when a couple experiences difficulties in achieving pregnancy after a year of sexual relations without the use of contraceptive methods.”
He explains that infertility can affect both men and women. In men, it may result from hormonal imbalances, dilated testicular veins, obstructions in the genital tract, chronic sexually transmitted infections, or nutritional deficiencies. For women, infertility can stem from early menopause, endometriosis, blocked fallopian tubes, or abnormalities of the uterus.
Dr. Kewou adds that infertility may manifest as erectile or ejaculatory dysfunctions and testicular tumors in men, and as irregular menstrual cycles or pelvic pain in women. He further explains that sexually transmitted infections, like the gonorrhea Mrs. Thera experienced, can lead to infertility in both genders if not promptly detected and treated.
He says that women and girls often unjustly carry the societal burden of infertility, facing consequences such as gender-based violence and stigma. He notes that, according to data on infertility in Mali, the rate among couples who seek gynecological consultations was 20% in 2018.
Dr. Kewou says that infertility in both men and women can be treated, with available options including intrauterine insemination and hormone therapy.
Mrs. Thera, now remarried, enjoys a tranquil life with her second husband and their son today, thanks to her successful medical treatments. She strongly advises other couples experiencing reproductive challenges to seek medical advice.
She says: “I encourage women to keep hope and consult a physician promptly because infertility can often be reversed. I also urge men to participate actively since infertility can also stem from them.”
This resource was produced through the “HÉRÈ – Women’s Well-Being in Mali” initiative, which aims to improve the sexual and reproductive health well-being of women and girls and to strengthen the prevention of and response to gender-based violence in Sikasso, Ségou, Mopti, and the district of Bamako in Mali. The project is implemented by the HÉRÈ – MSI Mali Consortium, in partnership with Farm Radio International (RRI) and Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) with funding from Global Affairs Canada.
Photo credit: Oury Thera and her son in Mali, taken by Dioro Cissé in 2024.