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: Thomson Reuters Foundation
When he worked as a nurse in his native South Sudan, Joseph Deng saw many women suffering in pregnancy and childbirth, inspiring him to retrain as a midwife to help cut the number of maternal deaths, one of the highest in the world.
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
During six years of selling sex on the streets and in brothels across Cameroon's capital Yaounde, Rose has been abused, attacked and forced to have unprotected sex by her clients. "There are some ferocious beasts amongst them," said the sex worker, a tall woman in her late thirties, wearing a short black dress and sporting a neck-length wig of straight dark hair. "Some men get violent... sometimes they attack you.
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
Kenya has promised free sanitary pads to all schoolgirls to encourage them to go to school during their periods, rather than stay at home with rags or tissues stuffed in their underwear. Every schoolgirl is Kenya is entitled to "free, sufficient and quality sanitary towels" and a safe place to dispose of them, according to the law introduced this week.
A study in Zambia shows that a malaria prevention drug given to pregnant women not only protects them from the disease, but also reduces their risk of contracting sexually transmitted and reproductive tract infections. This, in turn, improves birth outcomes.
Source: AllAfrica
South African National AIDS Council did not include decriminalising sex work in its HIV strategy plan. On Thursday, sex workers demonstrated during Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa's speech at the South African National AIDS Conference in Durban. Ramaphosa is chairperson of South African National AIDS Council (SANAC).
As Salom Tsoka drives the one-hour journey to work each morning concerns about his two sons, aged three and six, haunt him: will his youngest son have an asthma attack today? Will the childminder watch out for them? Is he parenting the kids the way their mother would? And the more he thinks about them, the more he thinks of his wife, Elita.
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
At least four in 10 girls in Nigeria are married before they turn 18, while almost a fifth are wed before 15, UNICEF data shows.
Source: All Africa
Amudat — Having been frustrated by the few available health centres in Amudat District, some desperate expectant mothers have turned to the neighbouring Kenyan hospitals in search of quality health services.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Under a huge baobab tree in Sudan’s Nuba mountains, I met Sebila, a 27-year-old mother of three. In March last year, her village had been attacked by Sudanese ground troops and bombed by government war planes. The assault forced Sebila and many other villagers to flee deeper into rebel-held territory.
Source: newsdeeply.com
Millions of girls and women are displaced and on the move right now globally – and the Trump administration’s proposed drastic cuts to humanitarian aid will have a major impact on these girls’ and women’s health. An especially important but often overlooked issue is one of the most basic parts of life for women – menstruation.
At a hospital in Botswana’s capital, the introduction of a weekly meeting for cervical cancer care providers has resulted in a sharp reduction in delays for treatment.