Case History of Nazia*
We received a telephone call from Nazia’s sister. Nazia was a 24 years old severely visually impaired British Pakistani women who lived in Belfast. Nazia spoke English as a second language and had moved to Northern Ireland from Leicester following (an arranged) marriage in 2009.
Very few Pakistani people lived in the same part of Belfast where Nazia did. Her husband employed a Fijian housemaid to help Nazia but she didn’t have any family living in Ulster. One of her sisters normally travelled to Belfast to see her each month and she had regular holidays in Leicester.
We were told that Nazia had 2 girls aged under 5 and that her husband wanted to have another baby soon because he particularly wanted a son. Nazia didn’t think that she could cope with any more children and she wanted to start using ‘Depo-Provera’ contraceptive injections.
However, as her husband worked in the Medical Profession she wasn’t convinced that her GP would prescribe them confidentially and there was also the matter of how she would travel to the surgery to have the injections. We discussed the issues concerned with Nazia and her sister (by several conference calls).
We contacted an Urdu speaking woman doctor who practiced in Belfast and found out from her about Family Planning Clinics located there where Depo Provera injections were available without a GP’s referral. We arranged for a volunteer from the Belfast Islamic Centre’s Women’s Group to go with Nazia for the injections.
Her husband thought she was learning English at the Centre. The last time she was in touch everything was fine. Nazia also has a local ‘Family Planning’ contact in Belfast now which is much better than relying on a clinic in Leicester via her sisters there.
