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: The Standard At least six out of every ten girls miss school during menstruation because they cannot afford sanitary towels, according to United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (Unicef). It is estimated that an average girl loses more than a full month of classes in a school year.
Source: Feminist Majority Foundation
Approximately 63 percent of sexually active Cameroonian women who want to avoid pregnancy do not have access to a modern form of contraception, according to a recently released report by the Guttmacher Institute and the French Institut de Formation et de Recherche Démographiques (IFORD).
Source: Linked Local Network
Africa’s population will reach four billion by 2100, according to a report released by UNICEF early this week. As the population grows, more investment in maternal health and family planning resources will be needed to ensure women’s reproductive health.
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni signed legislation this week criminalizing the transmission of HIV, a measure that allows doctors to violate confidentiality and disclose their patients’ HIV status without consent and calls for mandatory testing for pregnant women and their partners in violation of their human rights.
Source: The Guardian
Women do not seem to have a place in the pope's vision of a Catholic church that cares for the world's poor people
Source: IPS News
Barbara Kemigisa used to call herself an "HIV/AIDS campaigner". These days she would rather be known as an "HIV/AIDS family planning campaigner". "We need to reduce unplanned pregnancies and the HIV infection rate in our country," Kemigisa told IPS during Uganda's first national family planning conference on July 28. "It's about dual protection."
Source: SpyGhana
A research finding from a study of girls’ sexual relations outcomes in Accra suggest that the Ghana’s Reproductive Policy adopted in 2000 may not be sufficient in addressing the reproductive health of young girls.
Source: The Guardian
Esther Worae believes a key part of her job is to preach the message of contraception. Along with her team from the Marie Stopes clinic in Accra, she goes to places that attract a crowd – the beach, the marketplace – to talk to people about the value of family planning, the dangers of early marriage and the importance of women having access to all of the healthcare services they may need to prevent them dying from pregnancy or childbirth.
Source: Huffington Post
Traditionally, women's options for lowering their risk of contracting HIV have been relatively limited: Use condoms or don't have sex. Don't inject drugs. And get tested.
Source: IRIN
After decades battling high maternal death rates - at least a third of which were due to botched abortions - Ethiopia took a stand: it prioritized newborn and maternal health, and in 2005 it relaxed its abortion law in an effort to save women's lives.
Source: African Seer
The first time Alfred went to an HIV voluntary testing center, the healthcare provider did not treat him well. As a gay man, his story is not so rare.