Washington, DC —One in five Nigerian children will die before reaching his or her fifth birthday, according to Save the Children. Their mothers are also suffering - the country accounted for 14 percent of maternal deaths worldwide in 2010, according to the United Nations.
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: IRIN
Improved maternal healthcare and better family planning programmes have led to a sharp decrease in the Republic of Congo’s maternal mortality rate over the past decade.
The rate declined from 781 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2005 to 426 deaths per 100,000 live births at the end of 2012, according to a demographic and health survey conducted with the support of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).
Source: allAfrica
President Goodluck Jonathan and the Prime Minister of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg, have said this year will be "a tipping point for change" and global awareness for saving more lives, especially those of women and children. The two leaders, who are co-chairs of the United Nations Saving Life Commodities for Women and Children, in a joint report presented in Oslo, Norway Tuesday, also praised Nigeria's initiative of saving one million lives.
Source: allAfrica
National and traditional leaders, as well as many other stakeholders in the Kavango Region yesterday began a specially convened two-day conference at Kamutjonga, 25km from Divundu, to deliberate on burning issues such as teenage pregnancies and malnutrition in the region.
Led by the Deputy Prime Minister Marco Hausiku the conference is taking place at the Kamutjonga Inland Fisheries Institute.
Source: UNFPA
Africa has many accomplishments in which to take pride and confidence. Progress on many fronts is dramatic with a new sense of optimism right across the continent. Economic growth is strong, feeding through into increased incomes and better living standards.
Source: IPS
A 25-year-old mother of five hailing from Senegal's eastern Tambacounda province believes that contraceptives damage the womb and cause health problems in the long term, such as a rise in blood pressure and chronic headaches.
Source: allafrica.com
One in five Nigerian children will die before reaching his or her fifth birthday, according to Save the Children. Their mothers are also suffering - the country accounted for 14 percent of maternal deaths worldwide in 2010, according to the United Nations.
Source: IRIN
BRAZZAVILLE, 18 January 2013 (PlusNews) - The HIV infection rate has declined among pregnant women in the Republic of Congo from 3.4 percent in 2009 to 2.8 percent in 2012, according to a study by the Ministry of Health, which said it had taken specific action to help this section of the population.
"This significant decrease is due to many innovative and effective actions: screening using a mobile unit, as well as HIV/AIDS fairs throughout Congo to help inform young people about their vulnerability," said Health Minister François Ibovi.
"We have been urging pregnant women to get tested - and they are doing so. This allows them to receive treatment if they are HIV-positive, and their newborn children are supported in terms of antiretrovirals (ARVs),” Franck Marie Puruehnce, executive secretary of the National Council for Combating HIV/AIDS (CNLS), told IRIN.
"HIV infection among pregnant women is continuing to fall," she said, adding that despite this decline, the epidemic is becoming more feminine-specific “due to the low purchasing power of women, who are sometimes unable to avoid risky sexual encounters".
According to Puruehnce, protection of mother-to-child transmission services are available in health centres throughout the country.
Officially, HIV/AIDS prevalence in Congo is 3.2 percent, against 4.2 percent in 2003. The country (population 3.6 million) has 83,000 patients; women are twice as affected as men.
HIV rates vary according to different sections of the population. They are 7.5 percent among sex workers and 26 percent among homosexuals.
For Michel Bitemo, monitoring, evaluation and strategic information adviser at the UNAIDS office in Brazzaville, "the best protection against AIDS is knowing your status…
"We must move towards universal knowledge of HIV infection," he advised, regretting the fact that only 12 percent of people knew their HIV status.
Funding key
According to Michel Bitemo, "Congo can only maintain or improve results if financial resources are constantly increased."
"If funding falls, we will not have better, but worse, results. The HIV/AIDS response is 50 percent government-funded which is a good thing because in other countries it is below 50 percent, "said Bitemo.
At the last session of the National Council for the Fight against AIDS, the authorities recommended setting up a response fund.
"This fund will be funded by the government and industries such as oil, timber and mining... as well as international partners such as the World Bank and the Global Fund [to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis]," said Puruehnce.
"We want to reorganize the financing of the response to ensure no target is missed," she added.
Photo: Laudes Martial Mbon/IRIN
Healthy mother, healthy baby
Source: IRIN
Menstrual hygiene issues should be integrated into programmes and policies across sectors, including water, sanitation and hygiene, reproductive health, emergency management, and education, notes a new report. Currently, taboos surrounding menstruation leave many girls and women in low- and middle-income countries without access to sanitation facilities and excluded from school and opportunities.
Menstrual hygiene issues should be integrated into programmes and policies across sectors, including water, sanitation and hygiene, reproductive health, emergency management, and education, notes a new report. Currently, taboos surrounding menstruation leave many girls and women in low- and middle-income countries without access to sanitation facilities and excluded from school and opportunities.
Source: IRIN
Madagascar’s traditional midwives, or ‘matronnes’, are often thought to undermine safe childbirth practices, delivering babies in unsanitary environments and without provisions to manage complications. Yet they are now being recruited to a campaign to get women to deliver in clinics or hospitals, part of a move to lower maternal and newborn death rates.
Madagascar’s traditional midwives, or ‘matronnes’, are often thought to undermine safe childbirth practices, delivering babies in unsanitary environments and without provisions to manage complications. Yet they are now being recruited to a campaign to get women to deliver in clinics or hospitals, part of a move to lower maternal and newborn death rates.
Source: UNAIDS
In a new report, entitled Women out loud, UNAIDS explores the impact of HIV on women and the instrumental role women living with the virus are playing to end AIDS. It includes the latest data and commentary from some of the leading advocates on women and HIV.
In a new report, entitled Women out loud, UNAIDS explores the impact of HIV on women and the instrumental role women living with the virus are playing to end AIDS. It includes the latest data and commentary from some of the leading advocates on women and HIV.