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: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (Washington, DC)
Washington, DC — We know a great deal about what it takes to prevent most pregnancy-related deaths and complications. This collective knowledge, coupled with political commitment and action, has led to a global reduction in maternal mortality of 47 percent since 1990 (WHO, 2012).
Source: The New Vision
The Constitutional petition over maternal deaths is back in court. Over 150 maternal health rights activists, including home-based care providers and community leaders, who lost the petition in the Constitutional Court in 2012, have appealed to the Supreme Court.
Source: VANGUARD
One of the secrets of living to a ripe old age is to prepare for it right from infancy and even while in the uterus during pregnancy.
Source: Voice of America (Washington, DC)
Addis Ababa — The United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF, says Ethiopia has achieved one of the Millennium Development Goals of reducing child mortality by more than two-thirds.
Source: The New Vision
Mulago hospital has only two beds to deliver 80 expectant mothers daily, a shortage that has led to majority of them delivering on the floor, a hospital medical officer has revealed.
Failure for Sub-Saharan African countries to work towards achieving Millennium Development Goals on health will impact all other aspects of development including economic growth, Akatsa Bukachi, Director, Eastern Africa Sub-region Support Initiative for the Advancement of women (EASSI) has said.
Source: Alert Net
Maternal health is one of the most pressing issues in developing countries, with hundreds of millions of women struggling on a daily basis to get access to basic health care for themselves and their children.
Source: The New Vision
Have you ever seen a woman in need of the very first pregnancy of her life? She is a desperate woman. She is the kind of woman you want to be very careful with, for she carries her emotions on the surface of her skin, and understandably so.
Source: Health-e (Cape Town)
When Lindeka arrived at Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in Mthatha she had already miscarried her baby but the horror of what happened next only added to her trauma.
Source: Concord Times (Freetown)
Salone Youths and Adolescent Network on Population and Development (SalYAN), in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children's Affairs, and with support from the United Nations Fund for Population (UNFPA),
Source: The Star
Health Secretary James Macharia has called on Kenyans to embrace cost effective methods to prevent infant mortality. Macharia said a safe environment for antenatal care, delivery and care of new borns is essential if the country is to achieve Millennium Development Goals four and five, which highlight the need to reduce infant and maternal mortality.