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: Global Post
After landing in Johannesburg following a 19-hour flight from New York, I hop in a taxi heading towards the city center. As I look out the window, the nation's largest city seems calm. The streets are clean, children are playing in the parks, and family homes and business complexes dot the landscape.
Source: Daily News
KAGERA women have been advised to breastfeed their babies for at least three years to enable their children have strong immunity against various diseases including Asthma.
Source: allAfrica
A MEDIA report has it that three girls aged 13 and 14 recently fled to a local church for protection against perpetrators of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
Source: IPS News
Every year, three million newborn babies and almost 6.6 million children under five die globally, but if the rest of the world looked towards the examples of two of Africa's least-developed countries (LDCs), Rwanda and Ethiopia, they would perhaps be able to save these children.
Source: KC Team
The defaulter's club in Kenya is not like any other club - it is a growing movement of teenagers born with HIV who deliberately take 'holidays' from their life-saving medication.
Source: MENAFN PRESS
Early struggles in developing a response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic were remembered by African women church leaders who gathered in Nairobi Kenya to celebrate more than 30 years of their Christian ministry in the churches of their region.
Source: allAfrica
What if there was there was a practice that, if ended, could improve the lives of millions of women and girls worldwide? Every year, 14 million girls are married before the age of 18 inmost cases without their consent and with severe consequences for their health. Child marriage not only holds women and girls back, it holds back our efforts to make the world a safer and healthier place for everyone.
Source: UN News Centre
To triumph over maternal mortality, initiatives must focus on adolescent girls, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today said, ones that allow them to go to school, marry whom they choose, shield them from harmful traditional practices and provide them with appropriate family planning services.
Source: Awoko The Country Director and Senior Policy Adviser Ipas Sierra Leone, Valarie Tucker has called on the media to provide more space and develop more programs relating to Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights in order to intensify on the awareness campaign on SRHR for women in the country and to advocate on the improvement of health facilities and services.
Source: allAfrica
Have you ever wondered why male circumcision is not referred to as male genital mutilation while female circumcision is referred to as female genital mutilation yet both these practices are fairly similar?
Source: Mail & Guardian
Controlling fertility is an integral part of the human condition, specifically for women. This is because of the reproductive capacity particular to women's bodies. But interventions in fertility can frequently only happen after conception because of the gendered power imbalance between men and women, which undermines women's ability to influence the terms of sex.