The Re-imagining Reproduction project has five postdoctoral research fellows working in various African countries. Over the next few weeks, we will be introducing these incredible researchers to our community. We asked each of our fellows nine questions to get to know them better.
Please tell us who you are, what your area of interest/expertise is, and where in the world you work.
I am Stephen Okumu Ombere, a Kenyan citizen, medical anthropologist, and lecturer at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Maseno University. I am passionate about and published widely on the anthropology of reproduction, focusing more closely on social protection, childbirth, obstetrics, and midwifery. I am a reviewer for the International Journal of Public Health (IJPH), the International Journal of Childbirth, and the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (MDPI). My research currently focuses on the ethnography of women’s experiences of maternal healthcare services in Mageta Island in Western Kenya. This research explores the experiences of women and their families to access maternal healthcare services in hard-to-reach areas and what these experiences mean concerning the realisation of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in Kenya.
What/who inspired your current research field?
I got inspired to research maternal healthcare after my fieldwork on the roles of community health volunteers in managing common illnesses for children under five. My PhD research focused on social protection and maternal healthcare. Losing female relatives during birth has also inspired me to study maternal healthcare and reproduction from an anthropological perspective. These studies enable me to understand how people from different cultures and socio-economic backgrounds negotiate access to good maternal healthcare.
Who are your research/practitioner partners?
My research partners are my colleagues at Maseno University, post-doctoral fellows, mentors and principal investigators at the University of Pretoria, my PhD supervisors and former PhD colleagues at the University of Bern and Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, and the Leuphan University.
What projects have you been working on recently?
I am working on a book chapter (Chapter title: The Roles of Traditional Midwives during Healthcare Crises in Kenya: Experiences from the Giriama Community in Coastal Kenya (Forthcoming), for consideration for the Routledge Book Series Social Science Perspectives on Childbirth and Reproduction series.
What about your work challenges you, and which parts make you smile?
What three positive things have you achieved in the last year?
What advice can you give to people aspiring to work in your field?
Health poses a key challenge in every society every day. Medical anthropology is a discipline that can enable us to find solutions to complex problems in the healthcare system. This field of study opens many opportunities, such as providing a platform for networking, research, and consultancies. Moreover, attending conferences and workshops related to medical anthropology will allow one to learn more about the field, network with other professionals, and stay abreast of the latest trends in the discipline.
What impact would you like your work to have?
My work as an anthropologist in the field of maternal studies could have a profound impact on society. My research could inform policy decisions, inform healthcare practices, and shape attitudes and beliefs about motherhood. By better understanding the complexities of motherhood through fieldwork-based evidence, I hope my work to create and help raise awareness on the importance of maternal healthcare studies, challenges in accessing better maternal healthcare services and the social and cultural determinants of maternal healthcare outcomes in hard-to-reach areas. Therefore, I look forward to adding to the anthropology of reproduction debate among upcoming young scholars. Apart from policy dialogues, I would like my work to open opportunities for collaborations and long-term partnerships for research on sexual and reproductive health in Africa and globally.
If you had the opportunity to change anything in your field: what would it be, how would you change it, and why?
I would focus on creating a more integrative and robust approach to research. To increase the impact of medical anthropology, I advocate for a more holistic research approach, which would involve studying multiple cultures and populations and applying a multi-disciplinary lens to draw out common themes and themes specific to particular cultural contexts. This approach would provide a richer understanding of global health issues and the potential to develop more effective and equitable solutions.