(choral chanting) - [Narrator] I've come to Dakar, the capital of Senegal, to meet the controversial preacher, Imam Moussé Fall. He's promoting the use of contraceptives, a concept many here consider un-Islamic. But he believes it's the key to Senegal's future.
- Is family planning something that is deeply divisive? - Imam Falle is part of a new generation that is starting to think differently about family planning. - At a clinic in Dakar, we saw firsthand just how great the need is for family planning.
- Doctor Imbe, the clinic's OB-GYN, is overwhelmed by patients with reproductive health issues. Are you very busy at the moment? - How common is it to see women who have complications from having had too many children?
- If women had even more access to family planning, how would that change things? - Do a lot of women come to see you to get access to contraceptives? - Okay, I'll let you work.
- Thanks to a modernized distribution system, access to family planning in Dakar has already dramatically improved. - Marisel Kendettie is the logistics coordinator for Intrahealth, a non-profit that works with Senegal's Ministry of Health to increase the availability and reduce the costs of contraceptives around the country. - So they're packing up the van with contraceptive supplies from this deposit, and they're gonna distribute it to smaller outposts around the city.
- Despite all the progress in Dakar, back at the clinic, one of the midwives acknowledges there's still a long road ahead. So with all of this access to contraceptives and family planning clinics, why does Senegal still have one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world? - We're on our way to a village in the northeast of Senegal with a group of young women from the family planning NGO.
They're going to try to teach the community about contraceptives. Diali Djalo and her colleagues travel to rural parts of the country trying to reach women who otherwise have no access to family planning. - But not everyone here agrees with Diali's message.
Maoul Du Sam is the village imam. What do you tell people in your village about contraceptives? - What do you think of the argument that family planning is to ensure and improve the health of women and also give women a choice of how they want their lives to be?
- You think a woman is a shop? - So, do you not think that women should have the right to decide how many children to have and when, and if they feel that this is good for them or not? Imam Sam invited us into his home to meet his family.
- 47 children! Wow. How do you feel when you hear your husband say he wants 47 children?
- And how do you feel? - I can see just how important the work of imams like Moussé Fall is. Because they can speak to guys like this using the Quran to try to change their minds.
- What are your hopes for the future?
