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: All Africa
A poor and HIV-positive South African may well hear advice about "living positively" with HIV, but this is guidance that many find impossible to follow.
Source: The Standard
There is nothing as painful as watching a child withering away with an illness which could have been easily avoided. But pregnant mothers still deny their children the right to live a healthy life by refusing to get tested for HIV and Aids early.
Three years ago, Munit* was hungry, lonely and HIV-positive; her husband refused to be tested and she felt burdened by her secret status, unable to share her daily struggles with friends and family.
Source: IPS
Marguerite Kassa feared she would find herself alone in the small crowd of a dozen other pregnant women at the integrated health centre in Mossendjo, in the southwestern Republic of Congo.
Endometriosis has been an enigmatic disease since its first diagnosis in the mid-19th century. Since that time, there has been a continuous stream of information and discoveries, but up until today, there are still many unanswered questions.
Source: AllAfrica
"WOMEN think that when you're married, you don't have to worry about HIV. They think it is a safe haven,"said Beauty Nyamwanza of the National Aids Council.But marriage can actually fuel the risk of HIV among women, particularly the young.
Source: The Southern Times
In many cultures, premarital sex has for long been a taboo, but things are changing. More and more, young people are engaging in sex while still in school or soon after completing their basic studies.
Source: All Africa
For a woman who lives in the urban centre, has education, a job and a gainfully employed spouse- living on two incomes guarantees a sense of safety. For the rural woman, who performs unpaid household chores, has no education or any steady income or nutritious meal, and a spousal relation with a man of no means- life is a risk each and every hour.
For a woman who lives in the urban centre, has education, a job and a gainfully employed spouse- living on two incomes guarantees a sense of safety. For the rural woman, who performs unpaid household chores, has no education or any steady
International funding for HIV fell by 10 percent in 2010 from the previous year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation and UNAIDS; activists worry that a continued reduction will undermine progress in global HIV prevention and treatment efforts.