Table 1

Issues highlighted in four of the B!RTH plays and expert panel discussions

Title of playIssues highlighted in the playIssues discussed at panel discussionVenue delivered
‘Ouroboros’ (India)

  • Population control.

  • Forced sterilisation.

  • Maternal deaths due to unhygienic practices.

  • Maternal mortality.

  • Maternal morbidity.

  • Poor quality of surgical care.

  • Need for an increase in women’s reproductive and sexual health.

  • Increase in evidence based medicine.

  • Gender inequality.

Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.
‘Orchid’
(Kenya)

  • Obstetric fistula.

  • Iatrogenic fistula.

  • Female genital mutilation.

  • Long-term maternal morbidity.

  • Preventable severe complications of childbirth.

  • Poor quality of life.

  • Lack of access to specialised surgery care.

  • Stigma and taboo surrounding women’s sexual health

  • Increase in quality of care at healthcare facility level.

  • Increase in skilled birth attendants.

  • Increase in women’s reproductive and sexual health.

  • Advocacy.

  • Increase in evidence-based medicine.

WHO in Geneva, Switzerland and Liverpool, England.
‘Q & Q’
(Syria)

  • Violence against women.

  • Human trafficking.

  • Sex trafficking.

  • Abuse of reproductive rights.

  • Vulnerability of women in conflict and war.

  • Increase in women’s reproductive and sexual health.

  • Advocacy.

  • Eliminate violence against women.

WHO in Geneva, Switzerland and Liverpool, England.
‘Choices’
(Northern Ireland)

  • Lack of freedom of reproductive health choices.

  • Abortion.

  • Infertility and in vitro fertilisation.

  • No panel discussion delivered at this event.

Dublin Fringe Festival in Ireland.