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: Sunday Times
The ministry of Health in collaboration with United Nations Population Fund, WFP, the World Food Program and Engender Health is carrying out a campaign to treat and end obstetric fistula in women in Rwanda.
Source: IRIN
Hormonal birth-control injections may double a woman's risk of contracting HIV and passing it on to her partner, according to a new study. The research comes at a time when many governments are looking to scale up their family-planning programmes in a bid to reduce maternal mortality.
Source: AWID
FRIDAY FILE: The HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Bill, which criminalizes the transmission of HIV and AIDS in cases where a person is aware that they are HIV positive, was tabled in Uganda’s Parliament in 2010. The Bill has a number of adverse human and women’s rights implications.
Source: The Guardian
Britain reducing bilateral aid for projects in developing nations from nearly £60m to £41m in next four years. Britain is cutting back bilateral aid for HIV and Aids projects in developing countries by almost a third over the next four years, according to data from the Department for International Development.
Hopes for a female-controlled HIV prevention tool have been dealt a blow by the termination of one part of a large African trial after it failed to show effectiveness.
Source: IPS
"Please God, make my breasts disappear." Joyce Forghab used to pray the same line every night during the month she was suffering from breast ironing. The shocking practice, carried out by a quarter of mothers in Cameroon, is meant to reverse female sexual development.
Source: Gender Across Borders
Earlier this year, 28-year old Abigail Agborku became pregnant unexpectedly. Already a struggling mother of three, she sought to terminate her pregnancy. But something went wrong. She didn’t get the right advice, didn’t have adequate access, and didn’t know where to turn. She ended up in the hands of a quack, as too many women do, and died soon after.
Source: IPS
"Every quarter, more than a hundred women with fistulas – including many younger than 20 years old – are admitted for surgery in Maniema province," says nurse Julie Mawazo. "The number of affected women who don't have the means or awareness to come in must be far greater."
Talibouya Ka, Muslim leader (imam) of the Omar Kane mosque in the Medina neighbourhood of the Senegalese capital Dakar, encourages his followers to procreate as much as they can. “There are imams who are for family planning, but I am not. I tell worshippers they need to increase the size of the global Muslim family.”
A global effort to improve health services and prevent the deaths of 16 million women and children is making progress according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Source: All Africa
A Family Planning expert in the Ministry of Health, Thomas Nsengiyumva, has urged women to always seek professional advice prior to using family planning methods.