African Governments urged to give priority to health needs of women

African Governments have been urged to give priority to addressing the reproductive health issues of women to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) especially Goal five, which talks about “Improve Maternal Health”.

In addition, they should honour their commitments as stipulated in the Maputo Plan Protocol on the Rights of Women 2003, with special emphasis on increased access to safe abortion to sustain the life of every African woman.

The call was contained in a declaration issued at the end of the four-day conference of African Health Experts and Women’s Health Advocates on “Keeping Our Promise: Unsafe Abortion in Africa”.

Mrs Fannie Kachale, Deputy Director of Reproductive Health Unit, Ministry of Health, Malawi, who read the declaration, said African Governments should work to build a sustainable supply of medical technologies for contraception and safe abortion care.

“Women and girls are dying everyday in Africa through unsafe abortion and we have the knowledge, the will and the technologies to prevent these senseless deaths,” she added.

Governments, the declaration said, should initiate review of laws criminalizing abortion, in line with specific commitments under international and regional agreements, including specific and increased funding for reproductive health and measures to address unsafe abortion in national and health system budgets.

The delegates called on multilateral donor agencies as well as international technical support agencies to direct more resources to prevent unsafe abortion and make safe legal abortion available.

They should also provide policy and technical support for expanding women’s access to safe abortion care.

The delegates reaffirmed their commitment to providing leadership and accelerate action to expand African women’s access to safe abortion care and end needless deaths and injuries from unsafe abortion.

Mrs Juliana Azumah Mensah, Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs, addressing the closing session, called on governments to fulfill their political will expressed in addressing the health needs of women.