The maternal mortality ratio is unacceptably high in Africa. Forty per cent of all pregnancy-related deaths worldwide occur in Africa. On average, over 7 women die per 1,000 live births. About 22,000 African women die each year from unsafe abortion, reflecting a high unmet need for contraception. Contraceptive use among women in union varies from 50 per cent in the southern sub-region to less than 10 per cent in middle and western Africa" UNFPA
Early and unwanted childbearing, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and pregnancy-related illnesses and deaths account for a significant proportion of the burden of illness experienced by women in Africa. Gender-based violence is an influential factor negatively impacting on the sexual and reproductive health of one in every three women. Many are unable to control decisions to have sex or to negotiate safer sexual practices, placing them at great risk of disease and health complications.
According to UNAIDS, there is an estimated of 22.2 million people living with HIV in Sub-Saharan African in 2009, which represents 68% of the global HIV burden. Women are at higher risk than men to be infected by HIV, their vulnerability remains particulary high in the Sub-Saharan Africa and 76% of all HIV women in the world live in this region.
In almost all countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa region, the majority of people living with HIV are women, especially girls and women aged between 15-24. Not only are women more likely to become infected, they are more severely affected. Their income is likely to fall if an adult man loses his job and dies. Since formal support to women are very limited, they may have to give up some income-genrating activities or sacrifice school to take care of the sick relatives.
For more information on HIV/AIDS and Reproductive health, please visit the following websites:
PORT MORESBY, 18 April 2012 (PlusNews) - High levels of sexual violence and a cultural belief in witchcraft are putting an increasing number of women at risk of HIV in Papua New Guinea (PNG), health experts say.
Source: Shabait.com
The women inhabitants of Foro sub-zone expressed that the health services they receive from the health center is contributing in ensuring their health and that of their children.
Source: the Star
Nairobi has been selected as the headquarters of the Global Plan for Elimination of HIV among Children and Keeping their Mother Alive.
Source: The Star
It is estimated that 7,700 women die each year in Kenya from pregnancy related complications. This translates to 21 women dying each day or one woman every hour from preventable causes, making the need to address safe motherhood a human rights imperative.
Source: World Bank
With the Millennium Development Goals falling due in 2015, three Nigerian states—Adamawa, Nasarawa and Ondo—are rolling out bold healthcare reforms that will focus on results at public health facilities. The reforms signal improved care for over 9 million people, of whom nearly 4 million are women aged 15-49 and children under age five.
THE issue of maternal health is a thorny one that easily pricks the emotional nerves of many women and men in Zimbabwe. Many times stories of how women have been ill treated in public hospitals have been told. Some women have had to endure the agony of being detained for failure to pay maternity fees. This has been done to force their husbands to pay at least half the money required by hospitals. For others, the solution is sneaking out, an experience that is stressful and difficult to forget.
Source: Vanguard
No fewer than 10,000 less privileged women are to benefit from a free cervical cancer screening being organised by the wife of the Presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission, TREM, Dr. Peace Okonkwo.
Source: AfricaScienceNews
The international community should rally behind efforts to expand access to modern birth control options among women of child bearing age in sub-Saharan Africa. Such efforts will accerelate attainment of MDG 4 and 5 on infant and maternal health respectively,transform economies and sustain social and political stability.
Melinda Gates,the Co-chair, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation joined a growing army of advocates championing for universal access to contraceptives inorder to empower women in poverty stricken corners of the globe who are often denied this critical service. Speaking to a global audience through a live webcast,Melinda reiterated that family planning will be accorded significant attention within the Gates foundation core programs. The mother of three who is married to Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman and a consumate philanthropist was categorical that expanding access to familiy planning services among African women could leapfrog the continent to greater levels of prosperity.
Family planning despite the moral and religious controversies it generates can not be wished away in the 21st century. Melinda said that”a billion people use birth control without hesitation.They use it because they want the power to plan their own lives and to raise healthier,better educated and more prosperous families.” She regretted that birth control still elicits enormous opposition from the conservative sections of society. Some people think contraceptives are a code for abortion,which they are not.Some people are uncomfortable because contraceptives have to do with sex,” Melinda remarked.
She added that as a result, birth control has almost disappeared from the global health agenda.The victim of this paralysis are the people of Sub-saharan Africa and the poorest parts of South Asia. Access to modern contraceptives is still a mirage in many African countries where 60% of women who desires to avoid pregnancy are not using them due to poverty,infrastructural hiccups and social-cultural barriers. Melinda Gates observed that 66% of Germans and and 64% of Thai population use modern birth control options while a partly 10% 0f Nigerians and 2% of Chadians have access to effective family planning tools. She decried appalling stock outs of safe and affordable birth control options such as injectables in health centers across Africa.
“Women need an injection every three months,but every time they go to the clinic,the shelves are empty.This situation is common across the African continent”Melinda intoned.
Providing African women with modern contraceptives will transform societies,boost economies and reduce maternal and infant mortalities.Melinda noted that many parts of the world have reached the threshold in providing birth control pills to women of child bearing age. She stressed that because in region after region parents have again and again decided to have smaller families,there is no reoson to believe that African women have innately different desires from the rest of the women in the world. Back tracking on family planning reverses gains made on women empowerment,endangers countries` economies and is a drawback to social progress. Melinda was categorical that birth control will provide sustainable solution to high maternal and infant deaths,poverty and under-development in Africa.
She cited the case of a young businesswoman in a Nairobi slum who has settled for three children and is optimistic about her future since she can pursue her business interests without being encumbered by unmanageable number of children.“This is the same mental calculus hundreds of millions of women have gone through,and the evidence proves that these women have it exactly right.They are able to give their children more opportunities by exercising control over when they have them,” said Melinda. She revealed that the East Asian economic miracle was largely triggered by greater uptake of modern cotraceptives.
Couples in the Asian tigers gave birth to fewer children whom they provided better nutrition,quality healthcare and education. “When families in Sub-saharan Africa are given the opportunity to make these decisions,it will help spark a virtuous cycle of development in communities across the continent,” Melinda remarked. She challenged the international community to inject fresh momentum towards efforts aimed at achieving universal access to modern family planning services among women in resource constrained African nations.
Source: scidev.net
Female sex workers in low- and middle-income countries are nearly 14 times more likely to become infected with HIV than other women in these countries, according to a literature review by US scientists.
Source: Saturday Post Online
THE government should ensure that all sexually active people have access to affordable and easy health services on family planning, says WILSA.
Source: The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health
Leaders of nearly 120 national parliaments attending a major meeting here this week resolved to prioritize action and resources for improving the health of women and children.