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: Times of Zambia
IN recent memory, Solwezi has witnessed an influx of people from all over and that has taken a toll of the town's social life.
Call it civilisation but it has been a clash of cultures,ideas and lifestyles revolving around an idea of hope and prospect of getting a job in the mines or doing business with the mine.
Source: Daily Trust
Over $10,000 worth of antenatal products were on Tuesday given to more than 500 expectant mothers at the Nyanya Genaral Hospital by Zumunta Association, Washington DC chapter in conjunction with Milestone Medical Outreach also based in the USA.
Source: Times of Zambia
ROTARY Club International (RCI) has pledged to work closely with the Zambian Government in reducing maternal and child mortality rate in the country.
Source: Vanguard
THE joy of every woman is to deliver her baby normally. This is in spite of the many travails associated with pregnancy and delivery. Before now, the most available or preferred option for most women is natural birth.
Source: The Observer (Kampala)
Makerere University Walter Reed Project (MUWRP) is this July launching another third Phase I trial to develop an HIV vaccine since 1999 when the first trial was launched.
Source: The New Vision
Rubaga Girls Primary School pupils had assembled to listen to an HIV awareness talk.The school always created an opportunity for the pupils and their parents to learn about different issues, including HIV.
Source: Vanguard
AHEAD of the Women Deliver 2013 International Conference which opens in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia May 27, the health, wellbeing and survival of girls and women the world over, have been identified as critical factors for global development. In a call for improved and sustained investment in the health and wellbeing of girls and women all over the world, Jill Sheffield, President/Founder of Women Deliver - a global advocacy organisation working to generate political commitment and financial investment for fulfilling Millennium Development Goal 5 - asserts that investing in girls and women pays.
Source: FrontPageAfrica
Victoria Kanu, 30, sits in front of her sewing machine turning the wheels as she puts the finishing lines to the dress of a waiting customer. She looks happy and alive as she tells FrontPageAfrica her ordeal that led her to contracting Fistula.
Victoria lived happily with her boyfriend in Zleh Town, Grand Gedeh County with their two year old baby, but suddenly one day in November 2010 they got into a fight and something terrible happened that would ruin her dignity as a human being and a woman and isolate her from her community.
Source: South African Government
Days of women delivering at home are soon to be a thing of the past in the North West province. The Department of Health has established maternity waiting homes and also procured ten (10) Obstetric ambulances to exclusively transport pregnant women, MEC Dr. Magome Masike said on Tuesday.
Tabling the R7.6 Billion budget at the Provincial Legislature in Mmabatho, MEC Masike said this was to ensure that pregnant women deliver within health care facilities.
Source: Daily Trust
Nollywood super actress, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde and Hollywood star, Halle Berry went all out to fight for a cause. The duo, along with others, did a walk to support women with breast cancer.
Source: The New Vision
MAKERERE University Walter Reed Project (MUWRP) is to carry out trials for an HIV vaccine in July.
The project executive director, Dr. Hannah Kibuuka, told journalists during a media dialogue at their offices in Kampala that the trials would involve 120 participants.