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:
Source: Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam)
The average HIV/AIDS prevalence among people aged between 15 and 49 in Tanzania has dropped from seven per cent in the last ten years to 5.1 in 2012, Tanzania Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS) revealed.
Source: Vanguard
Warri — POLICE at Orerokpe, Delta State, have arrested a suspected cultist, simply called Monday, for allegedly raping and impregnating a seven-year-old girl (names withheld).
Vanguard learnt that the girl was living with her 27-year-old aunt, Destiny, in Ometa village, where Monday allegedly had carnal knowledge of her.
Source: The Observer (Kampala)
"She says she is 55, just a few years older than my mother," Judith says. She narrates, "One time, after she had told the doctor she is 55, my mother warned her, telling her that it is important to tell the doctor the right age. She [grandmother] told her to leave her alone," Judith says, adding that after this conversation, her mother let the old woman be.
Source: GroundUp (Cape Town)
New season, new presenter, same time, same channel. Education and health television programme Siyayinqoba Beat-It! will air its first episode of season 8 next week Thursday on SABC 1 at 1:30pm.
Source: Health-e (Cape Town)
From April 1, HIV positive people on antiretroviral therapy will be able to take one pill a day, instead of three pills twice a day.
Pregnant women with HIV will also be put onto this "triple fixed-dose combination" pill, no matter how strong their immune systems (CD4 count),
Source: The New Times
Kampala — The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has called for more media support in promoting and improving maternal health. UNFPA officials made the call during a three-day media advocacy workshop that kicked off on Thursday in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
Source:East African Business Week (Kampala)
Kampala — With Mother to Child transmission of HIV/AIDS accounting for 11% of the estimated 145,000 new infections occurring each year, Uganda's Ministry of Health is adopting a new intervention strategy.
Source: East African Business Week (Kampala)
According to the Uganda Women's Health Initiative (UWHI), 3,577 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 2,464 die from the disease every year.
Source: Leadership (Abuja)
As the HIV/AIDS scourge continues to wreak havoc on the lives of Nigerians, those living with it have opened up on how they are holding up under the deadly infection. RUTH CHOJI spoke with some People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA).
Source: The New Vision
The convergence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and infectious diseases in low- and middle-income countries presents major challenges to the world's poorest and most neglected groups of people. NCDs continue to escalate and cause hundreds of billions of dollars of loss annually,despite aggressive lifestyle campaigns.
Source: The New Vision
Health workers in Soroti district have discovered that some women take other men to antenatal clinics, instead of their husbands. Gabriel Egabu, the health information assistant at Gweri Health Centre III, said they had registered 10 such cases.