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.
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Source: New Vision
Mariamah is 23 years old. She has four children aged 5, 4, 2 and 5 months old.
Source: The New Vision
When I set out to unearth why some women shun contraceptives, I thought it would be a story I could do without running after many women.
Source: Tanzania Daily News
THE President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Tanzania is keeping a close eye on the completion of evaluations and new guidance of the outcome of clinical trial tests of a new approach for preventing HIV in women.
Over 40 HIV-postive women who were allegedly sterilized against their will go to court to demand justice and possible compensation. The chairperson of the National Gender and Equality Commission Winfred Lichuma who is championing the women's cause described what happened to the women as "atrocious an infringement of their human rights and contrary to medical ethics."
Affirming the importance of women's access to safe and legal abortion, the Rwandan government has lifted its reservation to Article 14(2)(c) of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights of Women in Africa (also known as the Maputo Protocol). The Maputo Protocol is the only international treaty that explicitly guarantees the right to legal abortion.
When in January 2008, staff from the International Community of Women living with HIV (ICW) initiated a series of focus group discussions with women living with HIV in Namibia about their experiences they were far from imagining what they would uncover. Of the 230 women interviewed, most reported some form of discrimination in health services and nearly 20% stated that they had been coerced or forced into sterilization.
NIGERIAN nurses have been tasked to protect and enhance the reproductive health and rights of women by ensuring they have access to the the right services and information.
At the Kakonko Health Centre, about 250 kilometres from the nearest hospital in Kigoma Region, Western Tanzania, assistant medical officer Abdu Mapinduzi prepares to operate on Joanitha, a young pregnant mother.
Source: World Bank
Every day, 800 women die from pregnancy-related causes during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. Over 99% of these 287,000 annual deaths occur in developing countries, and most are avoidable, as the health-care solutions to prevent or manage complications are well known. About 56% of the deaths occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa with another 29% in South Asia – these two regions together account for 85% of maternal mortality in the world.
Source: The Guardian
The issues of improving girls' education and women's access to justice are central to efforts to end the coerced sterilisation of women with HIV, says a South African lawyer who is supporting efforts to end the practice in her country.
Source: IRIN
The Namibian High Court has ruled that the human rights of three HIV-positive women were violated when they were coerced into being sterilized while they gave birth, but the judge dismissed claims that the sterilization amounted to discrimination based on their HIV status.