By Brenda Zulu in Accra, Ghana
One in 13 women in the Democratic Republic of Congo dies in pregnancy or childbirth. Every half an hour a woman dies of a pregnancy related case in Congo.
Health problems related to pregnancies and childbirth remain the leading cause of ill health and death for women of childbearing age worldwide. This is even worse in countries which have undergone an emergency or crisis.
Addressing unsafe abortion in emergency situations at the ‘Keeping Our Promise’ conference in Accra, Ghana, “Dr Wilma Doedens, Technical Advisor, Humanitarian Response Branch, United Nations Fund for Population Activities defined emergency as “serious disruption of the functioning of a society, causing widespread human, material, or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected society to cope using its own resources,”
In an emergency situation however, Dr Doedens said, the risk of sexual violence may increase during social instability and that lack of family planning services may increase risks associated with unwanted pregnancy.
“Malnutrition and epidemics increase risks of pregnancy complications and often the lack of access to emergency obstetric care increases risk of maternal death,”said Dr Doedens.
Testimonies of women survivors of war, also attending the conference clearly outlined the status of post rape and reproductive health care in the Congo.
One woman simply called Cilcily explained “We have had war for many years and nothing has changed. We have nothing now, I have six children. It is hard to feed everyone. We have one meal per day and only my sons go to school since I do not have enough money to take the girls as well. I have heard that women can stop getting pregnant but I don’t know how and no one has told me how. I wish I could stop. I don’t want to be pregnant anymore.”
In an interview, Dr Baubacar Toure, Reproductive Health Advisor, International Rescue Committee, outlined challenges to quality reproductive and post rape health care in Congo.
He said that in Congo, the average age of bearing children was 15 years as many girls were married off at that age.
He explained that lack of medicines, supplies and equipment is a frequent barrier to the hospitals ability to provide services to pregnant women. Many hospitals cannot provide the medication and supplies necessary to provide the very basic obstetric services, such as antibiotics, syringes and long gloves needed for certain procedures.
Similarly, the ability of the Congolese health system to offer family planning services and prevent infections is limited by the lack of essential supplies at health and hospitals. Contraceptives are for instance offered only in a limited number of hospitals.
Due to the war, there is lack of staff in the health centres and hospitals to perform emergency obstetric care as many of the health staff fled for their lives. It is estimated that Congo lacks approximately 42 000 health professionals. According to the DRCs national protocol, a general referral hospital with 100 beds serving a population of 100 000 should have at least three doctors, anaesthetist and 16 nurses.
Some hospitals are staffed with as little as one doctor and fewer than five nurses. Health workers are often not paid for months and many rural health workers migrate to cities or go to work for international agencies to seek employment with a regular salary.
Another barrier to proper reproductive health care is lack of female health staff i rural areas. Traditionally, Congolese women do not discuss reproductive health issues with men, even less when it comes to post rape health care. The scarcity of female rape health care medical staff throughout Congo is therefore problematic.
Sexual assault affects the reproductive health of survivors and their families. Unwanted pregnancies, damage to reproductive organs, sexual transmittable diseases and HIV are possible consequences of rape and sexual assaults. Without treatment and support, such consequences might affect the entire families.
Another female participant at the ‘keeping our promise’ conference attested to this. She said, “One day, at the age of 19, I was in bed asleep when I heard guns. The rebels had entered the village. I was so afraid, and I run with no belongings only the cloths I was wearing. I had to sleep in the bush for three days and on the fourth day I was kidnapped by an armed soldier who threatened me with death. He took me far away to the bushes and he raped me. After some weeks I found I was pregnant. I felt so ashamed but I could not keep the baby. I went and had an abortion. It was so painful and I still think about it everyday.”
Health facilities are often the first point of contact for rape survivors The physical injuries from sexual assault are one of the main reason survivors seek help.
In addition to the lack of staff, little commitment to continuing professional development and in service training is evident in the public sector, unless specifically funded by an external donor. Lack of training on newer, safer procedures was also a major challenge.
As health care professional are not consistently trained in the clinical care of survivors of sexual assault, when survivors report to health centers they are often not offered quality life saving care because it is simply unavailable.
This is complicated by ineffective referral systems which are critical to the accessibility of proper health services. Major obstacles to proper referrals are access to ambulances and means of communicating with a hospital that may have one. Roads are also often impassable to four wheel vehicles during the rainy season.
Showing posts with label women. Show all posts
Showing posts with label women. Show all posts
Monday, November 22, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
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.
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.
African health experts to discuss unsafe abortion
More than 250 health care providers, advocates, Parliamentarians, women’s groups, community members and allied agencies from across Africa are meeting in Accra, to share best practices and lessons and initiate an agenda for action.
The four-day conference would focus on unsafe abortion as a critical issue for reproductive health and rights in Africa, and for achieving the Millennium Development Goal Five, to reduce maternal mortality.
Opening the conference in Accra, Mr Robert Joseph Mettle-Nunoo, Deputy Minister of Health, said no woman should die of unsafe abortion when there were legal abortion services available.
He said women needed to be given a voice and choices if really Africa needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.
Mr Mettle-Nunoo said women needed to be respected and the meeting was an opportunity to take stock of the progress made in addressing unsafe abortion.
IPAS, an International non-governmental organisation, the main sponsor of the conference, is collaboration with the Ministry of Health, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, African Women’s Development and Communication Network (better known as FEMNET), International Planned Parenthood Federation Africa Regional Office and Marie Stopes International to organise the event.
It is under the theme “Keeping Our Promise: Addressing Unsafe Abortion in Africa”.
Mr Mettle-Nunoo noted that there were laws regarding abortion that needed to be enforced and said women should also be educated on the provision of safe abortion in certain instances.
He called for intensified training to ensure that doctors undertake quality abortion and expressed concern for the inadequate supply of contraceptives.
The Deputy Minister of Health condemned the stigmatisation of women who undertake abortion and said there should be more education on the matter.
He said “no woman wants abortion and if it requires that she does it, there is a law that backs that decision”.
More than half of the 67,500 global deaths related to unsafe abortion, occur in Africa and more than half of the women who die from unsafe abortion in Africa are younger than 25 years.
Of the five million women globally who are hospitalised with complications from unsafe abortion every year, more than one million are from Africa.
Dr Eunice Brookman-Amissah, IPAS Vice President for Africa, said “We have made great achievements towards saving women’s lives in the past several years and we must strive to reform archaic laws. We must trust women to make their own reproductive choices for themselves, their families and their communities.”
She explained that while celebrating new data indicating that globally maternal mortality was at last falling, little progress had occurred on the African continent.
Dr Brookman-Amissah said: “Obtaining real political commitment to address unsafe abortion remains very hard but this needs to happen if we are to eliminate this totally preventable cause of maternal deaths in our countries.
“When leaders fail to implement known, affordable solutions to this entirely preventable problem, we can only conclude that they do not sufficiently value the women and girls whose lives are at stake”.
The IPAS Vice President said for the achievement of MDG5 and to protect African women and girls, it was essential that “we take the next step in effectively addressing unsafe abortion, including improving women’s access to safe abortion. And the time for that is NOW --before many more women die”.
Dr Brookman-Amissah called for strategies to overcome the iniquities and inequities that were restrictive to abortion laws and take the moral decision to no longer deny women access to services that we had the knowledge and the technologies to provide.
Dr Richard Turkson, Ghana’s High Commissioner to Canada, noted that the stigma surrounding abortion was still very strong but no longer absolute and there was the need now to say the word “abortion” in many settings where it previously was unthinkable.
Women’s right to sexual and reproductive health, including the right to safe legally-permitted abortion, he said was a basic human right that should be enjoyed by all women and like every human right, this should translate into the necessary social, economic and cultural conditions and facilities under which their legitimate aspirations and dignity might be fully realized.
The agenda of the conference would include; a review of regional and national progress in addressing unsafe abortion, lessons from research and experience that could improve safe abortion care, post abortion care and related reproductive health care, such as preventing unwanted pregnancy, discussion of an agenda for action for the African region and ways to improve collaboration among governments, NGOs and other stakeholders.
The four-day conference would focus on unsafe abortion as a critical issue for reproductive health and rights in Africa, and for achieving the Millennium Development Goal Five, to reduce maternal mortality.
Opening the conference in Accra, Mr Robert Joseph Mettle-Nunoo, Deputy Minister of Health, said no woman should die of unsafe abortion when there were legal abortion services available.
He said women needed to be given a voice and choices if really Africa needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.
Mr Mettle-Nunoo said women needed to be respected and the meeting was an opportunity to take stock of the progress made in addressing unsafe abortion.
IPAS, an International non-governmental organisation, the main sponsor of the conference, is collaboration with the Ministry of Health, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, African Women’s Development and Communication Network (better known as FEMNET), International Planned Parenthood Federation Africa Regional Office and Marie Stopes International to organise the event.
It is under the theme “Keeping Our Promise: Addressing Unsafe Abortion in Africa”.
Mr Mettle-Nunoo noted that there were laws regarding abortion that needed to be enforced and said women should also be educated on the provision of safe abortion in certain instances.
He called for intensified training to ensure that doctors undertake quality abortion and expressed concern for the inadequate supply of contraceptives.
The Deputy Minister of Health condemned the stigmatisation of women who undertake abortion and said there should be more education on the matter.
He said “no woman wants abortion and if it requires that she does it, there is a law that backs that decision”.
More than half of the 67,500 global deaths related to unsafe abortion, occur in Africa and more than half of the women who die from unsafe abortion in Africa are younger than 25 years.
Of the five million women globally who are hospitalised with complications from unsafe abortion every year, more than one million are from Africa.
Dr Eunice Brookman-Amissah, IPAS Vice President for Africa, said “We have made great achievements towards saving women’s lives in the past several years and we must strive to reform archaic laws. We must trust women to make their own reproductive choices for themselves, their families and their communities.”
She explained that while celebrating new data indicating that globally maternal mortality was at last falling, little progress had occurred on the African continent.
Dr Brookman-Amissah said: “Obtaining real political commitment to address unsafe abortion remains very hard but this needs to happen if we are to eliminate this totally preventable cause of maternal deaths in our countries.
“When leaders fail to implement known, affordable solutions to this entirely preventable problem, we can only conclude that they do not sufficiently value the women and girls whose lives are at stake”.
The IPAS Vice President said for the achievement of MDG5 and to protect African women and girls, it was essential that “we take the next step in effectively addressing unsafe abortion, including improving women’s access to safe abortion. And the time for that is NOW --before many more women die”.
Dr Brookman-Amissah called for strategies to overcome the iniquities and inequities that were restrictive to abortion laws and take the moral decision to no longer deny women access to services that we had the knowledge and the technologies to provide.
Dr Richard Turkson, Ghana’s High Commissioner to Canada, noted that the stigma surrounding abortion was still very strong but no longer absolute and there was the need now to say the word “abortion” in many settings where it previously was unthinkable.
Women’s right to sexual and reproductive health, including the right to safe legally-permitted abortion, he said was a basic human right that should be enjoyed by all women and like every human right, this should translate into the necessary social, economic and cultural conditions and facilities under which their legitimate aspirations and dignity might be fully realized.
The agenda of the conference would include; a review of regional and national progress in addressing unsafe abortion, lessons from research and experience that could improve safe abortion care, post abortion care and related reproductive health care, such as preventing unwanted pregnancy, discussion of an agenda for action for the African region and ways to improve collaboration among governments, NGOs and other stakeholders.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
African health experts to discuss unsafe abortion
African health experts to discuss unsafe abortion
More than 250 health care providers, advocates, Parliamentarians, women's groups, community members and allied agencies from across Africa are meeting in Accra, to share best practices and lessons and initiate an agenda for action.
The four-day conference would focus on unsafe abortion as a critical issue for reproductive health and rights in Africa, and for achieving the Millennium Development Goal Five, to reduce maternal mortality.
Opening the conference in Accra, Mr Robert Joseph Mettle-Nunoo, Deputy Minister of Health, said no woman should die of unsafe abortion when there were legal abortion services available.
He said women needed to be given a voice and choices if really Africa needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.
Mr Mettle-Nunoo said women needed to be respected and the meeting was an opportunity to take stock of the progress made in addressing unsafe abortion.
IPAS, an International non-governmental organisation, the main sponsor of the conference, is collaboration with the Ministry of Health, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, African Women's Development and Communication Network (better known as FEMNET), International Planned Parenthood Federation Africa Regional Office and Marie Stopes International to organise the event.
It is under the theme "Keeping Our Promise: Addressing Unsafe Abortion in Africa".
Mr Mettle-Nunoo noted that there were laws regarding abortion that needed to be enforced and said women should also be educated on the provision of safe abortion in certain instances.
He called for intensified training to ensure that doctors undertake quality abortion and expressed concern for the inadequate supply of contraceptives.
The Deputy Minister of Health condemned the stigmatisation of women who undertake abortion and said there should be more education on the matter.
He said "no woman wants abortion and if it requires that she does it, there is a law that backs that decision".
More than half of the 67,500 global deaths related to unsafe abortion, occur in Africa and more than half of the women who die from unsafe abortion in Africa are younger than 25 years.
Of the five million women globally who are hospitalised with complications from unsafe abortion every year, more than one million are from Africa.
Dr Eunice Brookman-Amissah, IPAS Vice President for Africa, said "We have made great achievements towards saving women's lives in the past several years and we must strive to reform archaic laws. We must trust women to make their own reproductive choices for themselves, their families and their communities."
She explained that while celebrating new data indicating that globally maternal mortality was at last falling, little progress had occurred on the African continent.
Dr Brookman-Amissah said: "Obtaining real political commitment to address unsafe abortion remains very hard but this needs to happen if we are to eliminate this totally preventable cause of maternal deaths in our countries.
"When leaders fail to implement known, affordable solutions to this entirely preventable problem, we can only conclude that they do not sufficiently value the women and girls whose lives are at stake".
The IPAS Vice President said for the achievement of MDG5 and to protect African women and girls, it was essential that "we take the next step in effectively addressing unsafe abortion, including improving women's access to safe abortion. And the time for that is NOW --before many more women die".
Dr Brookman-Amissah called for strategies to overcome the iniquities and inequities that were restrictive to abortion laws and take the moral decision to no longer deny women access to services that we had the knowledge and the technologies to provide.
Dr Richard Turkson, Ghana's High Commissioner to Canada, noted that the stigma surrounding abortion was still very strong but no longer absolute and there was the need now to say the word "abortion" in many settings where it previously was unthinkable.
Women's right to sexual and reproductive health, including the right to safe legally-permitted abortion, he said was a basic human right that should be enjoyed by all women and like every human right, this should translate into the necessary social, economic and cultural conditions and facilities under which their legitimate aspirations and dignity might be fully realised.
The agenda of the conference would include; a review of regional and national progress in addressing unsafe abortion, lessons from research and experience that could improve safe abortion care, post abortion care and related reproductive health care, such as preventing unwanted pregnancy, discussion of an agenda for action for the African region and ways to improve collaboration among governments, NGOs and other stakeholders.
GNA
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
BREAK THE SILENCE ON UNSAFE ABORTION – PRESIDENT MILLS
By James Addy
President J. E. Mills, has urged African governments to join the crusade to break the culture of silence on unsafe abortions on the continent.
He made this appeal in an address read for him at a three-day international conference on unsafe abortion in Africa held in Accra this week.
In a speech read on his behalf by Mr Robert-Joseph Mettle-Nunoo, the Deputy Minister of Health, President Mills said, “I happily join the crusade in keeping the promise. It is time to break the culture of silence on unsafe abortions in Africa women have a choice. They need to know their rights.”
“Keeping our promise: Addressing unsafe abortion in Africa” and sponsored by Women’s Health International Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) Ipas in collaboration with Ghana’s Ministry of Health, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the African Women’s Development and Communication Network the International Planned Parenthood Federation Africa and Marie Slopes International.
It was attended by about 250 participants including health care providers’ advocates, parliamentarians, women groups who shared best practices and also lessons learned in the course of their activities.
Dr Thokozile Ruzvidzo, Director, African Centre for Gender and Social Development, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, in a keynote address said the Millennium Development Goals cannot be achieved without a specific focus on eliminating unsafe abortion from the continent. She said “maternal mortality and morbidity not only affects women, it affects their families, our communities and our countries.”
Dr Ruzvidzo said nonetheless the causes of maternal complications and deaths, including unsafe abortion, are preventable only if gender concerns are put at the front of the line.
She said combating discrimination against women and girls is therefore critical to eliminate preventable maternal morbidity and mortality.
Dr Ruzvidzo said unsafe abortion is frequently the only recourse young, poor, uneducated and rural women have to avoid unwanted pregnancies.
“They take place in situations characterized by inadequate provider skills, the use of hazardous techniques and in unsanitary facilities, and endanger the lives of thousands of African women”, she said.
Dr Ruzvidzo said 67,000 women die annually globally as a result of complications of unsafe abortion.
Additionally between two million and seven million women each year survive unsafe abortions but sustain long-term damage or disease.
Dr Ruzvidzo said more than half of the deaths from unsafe abortion an estimated 35,000 occur in Africa, adding that the WHO estimates that in Africa, one in seven maternal deaths result from unsafe abortion.
Dr Ruzvidzo observed:” that so many women resort to unsafe abortion reveals how women on our continent do not enjoy the basic freedoms and rights to which all human beings are entitled, thus limiting their full potential for development.”
Dr Ruzvidzo said each year an estimated 14 million women in Africa experience unintended pregnancy which reflects the persistent, unacceptably high unmet need for contraception.
“As many as a quarter of all African women who want to practice family planning lack information or effective contraceptive methods they need to do so,” she said.
Dr Ruzvidzo said although there had been progress in addressing that gap in recent years and decades, more in some countries than others, the unmet need for contraception remains a gross in justice for women in the region.
Dr Elizabeth Maguire, the president of Ipas said an integrated approach to contraception and safe abortion is critical to solving the global public health crisis caused by unwanted pregnancies.
She called on African governments to strengthen and expand efforts in both public and private sectors to end unwanted pregnancy to enable women to exercise fully their sexual and reproduction
President J. E. Mills, has urged African governments to join the crusade to break the culture of silence on unsafe abortions on the continent.
He made this appeal in an address read for him at a three-day international conference on unsafe abortion in Africa held in Accra this week.
In a speech read on his behalf by Mr Robert-Joseph Mettle-Nunoo, the Deputy Minister of Health, President Mills said, “I happily join the crusade in keeping the promise. It is time to break the culture of silence on unsafe abortions in Africa women have a choice. They need to know their rights.”
“Keeping our promise: Addressing unsafe abortion in Africa” and sponsored by Women’s Health International Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) Ipas in collaboration with Ghana’s Ministry of Health, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the African Women’s Development and Communication Network the International Planned Parenthood Federation Africa and Marie Slopes International.
It was attended by about 250 participants including health care providers’ advocates, parliamentarians, women groups who shared best practices and also lessons learned in the course of their activities.
Dr Thokozile Ruzvidzo, Director, African Centre for Gender and Social Development, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, in a keynote address said the Millennium Development Goals cannot be achieved without a specific focus on eliminating unsafe abortion from the continent. She said “maternal mortality and morbidity not only affects women, it affects their families, our communities and our countries.”
Dr Ruzvidzo said nonetheless the causes of maternal complications and deaths, including unsafe abortion, are preventable only if gender concerns are put at the front of the line.
She said combating discrimination against women and girls is therefore critical to eliminate preventable maternal morbidity and mortality.
Dr Ruzvidzo said unsafe abortion is frequently the only recourse young, poor, uneducated and rural women have to avoid unwanted pregnancies.
“They take place in situations characterized by inadequate provider skills, the use of hazardous techniques and in unsanitary facilities, and endanger the lives of thousands of African women”, she said.
Dr Ruzvidzo said 67,000 women die annually globally as a result of complications of unsafe abortion.
Additionally between two million and seven million women each year survive unsafe abortions but sustain long-term damage or disease.
Dr Ruzvidzo said more than half of the deaths from unsafe abortion an estimated 35,000 occur in Africa, adding that the WHO estimates that in Africa, one in seven maternal deaths result from unsafe abortion.
Dr Ruzvidzo observed:” that so many women resort to unsafe abortion reveals how women on our continent do not enjoy the basic freedoms and rights to which all human beings are entitled, thus limiting their full potential for development.”
Dr Ruzvidzo said each year an estimated 14 million women in Africa experience unintended pregnancy which reflects the persistent, unacceptably high unmet need for contraception.
“As many as a quarter of all African women who want to practice family planning lack information or effective contraceptive methods they need to do so,” she said.
Dr Ruzvidzo said although there had been progress in addressing that gap in recent years and decades, more in some countries than others, the unmet need for contraception remains a gross in justice for women in the region.
Dr Elizabeth Maguire, the president of Ipas said an integrated approach to contraception and safe abortion is critical to solving the global public health crisis caused by unwanted pregnancies.
She called on African governments to strengthen and expand efforts in both public and private sectors to end unwanted pregnancy to enable women to exercise fully their sexual and reproduction
Révisions des lois sur l’avortement : Les chefs d’Etat africains invités à respecter leurs engagements
Par Issa NIANG
‘Nous avons entendu trop de promesse, ça suffit, il est tant de passer à l’action’ s’est exclamée Roselynn Musa, directrice de l’information du Réseau des femmes africaines pour le développement et la communication (Femnet), dans le grand amphithéâtre du Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons. C’est presque un sentiment de rébellion qui s’est emparé des participants à cette conférence sur les avortements à risque en Afrique qui se tient à Accra du 8 au 11 novembre 2010.
Les différents communicateurs qui se sont succédé à la tribune, lors de cette rencontre d’Accra, ont été unanimes à reconnaître que les conférences, les déclarations et les promesses se multiplient pour ne rien changer au niveau de la santé reproductive des femmes. En d’autres termes, les Etats ne respectent pas leurs engagements. Le problème des avortements à risque en Afrique, lui, est d’autant plus compliqué à résoudre que les gouvernants ne veulent offenser personne. Le scénario est fort simple : ils se contentent de signer les conventions et protocoles et puis après, silence radio. Et quand le Commissaire national des droits de l’homme du Kenya, Winnie Luchiana, a dressé ce bilan sombre sur la mise en œuvre des engagements que prennent les chefs d’Etat dans les pays africains, tout le monde a opiné dans l’assistance.
En effet, à Maputo, dans la capitale mozambicaine, les chefs d’Etat africains avaient, en 2006, pris l’engagement, dans le cadre d’un plan d’action, de prendre des mesures en vue d’améliorer la santé de la reproduction des femmes africaines. Ce plan de Maputo visait à éliminer toutes formes de discrimination à l’endroit des femmes. Dans les chapitres qui évoquent les droits des femmes à la santé, on pouvait noter que celles-ci ont le droit de décider du nombre d’enfants qu’elles voudraient avoir. D’où la nécessité pour la majeure partie des pays africains de réviser les lois sur l’avortement, héritées de l’époque coloniale. Jusque-là des pays comme le Ghana qui abrite cette conférence sur les avortements à risque et la Zambie disposent d’une loi qui autorise l’avortement médicalisé.
La société civile, quant à elle, a sa responsabilité dans la lutte contre les lois restrictives qui empêchent les femmes de jouir de leur droit à l’accès à l’avortement sécurisé. Elle devrait passer au-devant de la scène pour inciter les populations à revendiquer leur droit.
‘Nous avons entendu trop de promesse, ça suffit, il est tant de passer à l’action’ s’est exclamée Roselynn Musa, directrice de l’information du Réseau des femmes africaines pour le développement et la communication (Femnet), dans le grand amphithéâtre du Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons. C’est presque un sentiment de rébellion qui s’est emparé des participants à cette conférence sur les avortements à risque en Afrique qui se tient à Accra du 8 au 11 novembre 2010.
Les différents communicateurs qui se sont succédé à la tribune, lors de cette rencontre d’Accra, ont été unanimes à reconnaître que les conférences, les déclarations et les promesses se multiplient pour ne rien changer au niveau de la santé reproductive des femmes. En d’autres termes, les Etats ne respectent pas leurs engagements. Le problème des avortements à risque en Afrique, lui, est d’autant plus compliqué à résoudre que les gouvernants ne veulent offenser personne. Le scénario est fort simple : ils se contentent de signer les conventions et protocoles et puis après, silence radio. Et quand le Commissaire national des droits de l’homme du Kenya, Winnie Luchiana, a dressé ce bilan sombre sur la mise en œuvre des engagements que prennent les chefs d’Etat dans les pays africains, tout le monde a opiné dans l’assistance.
En effet, à Maputo, dans la capitale mozambicaine, les chefs d’Etat africains avaient, en 2006, pris l’engagement, dans le cadre d’un plan d’action, de prendre des mesures en vue d’améliorer la santé de la reproduction des femmes africaines. Ce plan de Maputo visait à éliminer toutes formes de discrimination à l’endroit des femmes. Dans les chapitres qui évoquent les droits des femmes à la santé, on pouvait noter que celles-ci ont le droit de décider du nombre d’enfants qu’elles voudraient avoir. D’où la nécessité pour la majeure partie des pays africains de réviser les lois sur l’avortement, héritées de l’époque coloniale. Jusque-là des pays comme le Ghana qui abrite cette conférence sur les avortements à risque et la Zambie disposent d’une loi qui autorise l’avortement médicalisé.
La société civile, quant à elle, a sa responsabilité dans la lutte contre les lois restrictives qui empêchent les femmes de jouir de leur droit à l’accès à l’avortement sécurisé. Elle devrait passer au-devant de la scène pour inciter les populations à revendiquer leur droit.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Embrace safe abortion to eliminate maternal deaths – WHO
By Chris Kiwawulo in Accra
AFRICAN countries need to embrace safe abortion if they are to eliminate maternal deaths and injuries that arise from unsafe abortions, a World Health Organization (WHO) official has advised.
Dr. Charles Fleischer Djoleto, the WHO office focal point officer for Ghana, noted that 13% of the global maternal were due to unsafe abortion, meaning that about 130 women die every day from unsafe abortion of which 99% (129) live in developing countries like Uganda. He said WHO supports the move to legalise abortion in Africa, noting that unsafe abortions mostly take place where the practice is illegal.
Speaking at the opening of the regional conference on eliminating abortion in Africa on Monday (November 8), Djoleto said a critical component of eliminating unsafe abortion is preventing unintended pregnancies, using contraceptives. The one-week conference themed; ‘Keeping our promise: Addressing unsafe abortion in Africa’, is taking place at the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons in Accra.
“If contraceptive needs were fully met globally, unsafe abortions would decline by 73% from 20 million to 5.5 million per year and the number of women requiring treatment for abortion complications would decline from 8.5 million to 2 million annually. Can you imagine the impact that would have on African women’s lives and the lives of their families?” Djoleto wondered.
Ipas, a global women’s rights advocacy NGO, in collaboration with African Network on Medical Abortion, African Women’s Development and Communication Network, Maries topes International, the International Planned parenthood Federation, Ghana’s health ministry and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa organised the conference.
Much as use of contraceptives reduces unsafe abortions and thus deaths, Djoleto revealed that legalising safe abortion is paramount. Quoting a 2009 WHO report dubbed ‘Women Health: Today’s evidence, tomorrow’s agenda’, Djoleto said women who seek an abortion will do so regardless of legal restrictions and that where restrictions are few, deaths and illnesses dramatically reduce.
“Even if contraceptive needs are fully met, an estimated 33 million women are expected to experience accidental pregnancy while using contraception and thus the need for safe abortion,” he pointed out. Djoleto said WHO does not tell countries what to do regarding their national laws and policies, but it provides evidence that they can use to make their own decisions about health.
Ipas president and chief executive officer, Elizabeth Maguire, noted that efforts to address women’s unmet need for contraception and to prevent unsafe abortion were still implemented separately in many African health systems. “Yet we know from experience that an integrated approach to contraception and safe abortion is critical to solving the global public health crisis caused by unwanted pregnancies…and to meeting both the International Conference on Population and Development agreed action and Millennium Development Goals.”
Maguire added that access to basic health services is essential in ensuring each woman’s basic human right to decide whether and when to have children. In Uganda, statistics show, the unmet need for family planning is still high at 41%. In Ghana, one in every three women have an unmet need for family planning. On the entire African continent, the average contraceptive intake is still low at 15% compared to countries like Thailand where it is at over 70%.
Maguire called for active participation of the civil society and public sector in order to extend the availability of comprehensive abortion and contraception to surface the voices and needs of women, inform them and mobilize action.
The Ghanaian President, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, pledged that his country will support the elimination of unsafe abortion and urged other African leaders to follow suit. In a speech read for him by Rojo Mettle Nunoo, Ghana’s health deputy minister, Mills said; “Nobody like abortion, certainly not the victims! But we all have a common ground of preventing hardship, illness and deaths.”
Mills noted that whereas abortion has been legal in Ghana since 1985, religious and moral inclinations against abortion result into some uneasiness among service providers who face a dilemma between preserving these values and saving women’s lives.
“There is a wide spectrum of interventions which can involve everyone – from religious leaders, civil society, traditional leaders, legal system and law enforcement agencies, health system, education system, youth, men, women, individuals and groups from all walks of life can play key roles in addressing these issues from various angles.”
The conference brought together over 200 participants from over 20 African countries who converged to develop strategies for the future of women in ensuring their access to safe abortion. All participants agreed that unsafe abortion was largely responsible for the high number of maternal deaths in their countries and called upon their leaders to legalise the practice.
AFRICAN countries need to embrace safe abortion if they are to eliminate maternal deaths and injuries that arise from unsafe abortions, a World Health Organization (WHO) official has advised.
Dr. Charles Fleischer Djoleto, the WHO office focal point officer for Ghana, noted that 13% of the global maternal were due to unsafe abortion, meaning that about 130 women die every day from unsafe abortion of which 99% (129) live in developing countries like Uganda. He said WHO supports the move to legalise abortion in Africa, noting that unsafe abortions mostly take place where the practice is illegal.
Speaking at the opening of the regional conference on eliminating abortion in Africa on Monday (November 8), Djoleto said a critical component of eliminating unsafe abortion is preventing unintended pregnancies, using contraceptives. The one-week conference themed; ‘Keeping our promise: Addressing unsafe abortion in Africa’, is taking place at the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons in Accra.
“If contraceptive needs were fully met globally, unsafe abortions would decline by 73% from 20 million to 5.5 million per year and the number of women requiring treatment for abortion complications would decline from 8.5 million to 2 million annually. Can you imagine the impact that would have on African women’s lives and the lives of their families?” Djoleto wondered.
Ipas, a global women’s rights advocacy NGO, in collaboration with African Network on Medical Abortion, African Women’s Development and Communication Network, Maries topes International, the International Planned parenthood Federation, Ghana’s health ministry and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa organised the conference.
Much as use of contraceptives reduces unsafe abortions and thus deaths, Djoleto revealed that legalising safe abortion is paramount. Quoting a 2009 WHO report dubbed ‘Women Health: Today’s evidence, tomorrow’s agenda’, Djoleto said women who seek an abortion will do so regardless of legal restrictions and that where restrictions are few, deaths and illnesses dramatically reduce.
“Even if contraceptive needs are fully met, an estimated 33 million women are expected to experience accidental pregnancy while using contraception and thus the need for safe abortion,” he pointed out. Djoleto said WHO does not tell countries what to do regarding their national laws and policies, but it provides evidence that they can use to make their own decisions about health.
Ipas president and chief executive officer, Elizabeth Maguire, noted that efforts to address women’s unmet need for contraception and to prevent unsafe abortion were still implemented separately in many African health systems. “Yet we know from experience that an integrated approach to contraception and safe abortion is critical to solving the global public health crisis caused by unwanted pregnancies…and to meeting both the International Conference on Population and Development agreed action and Millennium Development Goals.”
Maguire added that access to basic health services is essential in ensuring each woman’s basic human right to decide whether and when to have children. In Uganda, statistics show, the unmet need for family planning is still high at 41%. In Ghana, one in every three women have an unmet need for family planning. On the entire African continent, the average contraceptive intake is still low at 15% compared to countries like Thailand where it is at over 70%.
Maguire called for active participation of the civil society and public sector in order to extend the availability of comprehensive abortion and contraception to surface the voices and needs of women, inform them and mobilize action.
The Ghanaian President, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, pledged that his country will support the elimination of unsafe abortion and urged other African leaders to follow suit. In a speech read for him by Rojo Mettle Nunoo, Ghana’s health deputy minister, Mills said; “Nobody like abortion, certainly not the victims! But we all have a common ground of preventing hardship, illness and deaths.”
Mills noted that whereas abortion has been legal in Ghana since 1985, religious and moral inclinations against abortion result into some uneasiness among service providers who face a dilemma between preserving these values and saving women’s lives.
“There is a wide spectrum of interventions which can involve everyone – from religious leaders, civil society, traditional leaders, legal system and law enforcement agencies, health system, education system, youth, men, women, individuals and groups from all walks of life can play key roles in addressing these issues from various angles.”
The conference brought together over 200 participants from over 20 African countries who converged to develop strategies for the future of women in ensuring their access to safe abortion. All participants agreed that unsafe abortion was largely responsible for the high number of maternal deaths in their countries and called upon their leaders to legalise the practice.
Keeping Our Promise: Addressing Unsafe Abortion in Africa Conference Opens in Accra, Ghana
By Rosemary Ardayfio
The issue of how to stop deaths due to unsafe abortion in Africa is the centre of discussions at a four day International conference which opened in Accra yesterday.
The conference, dubbed ‘Keeping Our Promise: Addressing Unsafe Abortion in Africa” is focusing on unsafe abortion as a critical issue for reproductive health and rights in Africa and for achieving the Millennium Development Goal Five to reduce maternal mortality.
Over 250 health experts, policymakers, and practitioners from around the African region have gathered to share best practices and lessons learnt and shape an agenda for action.
The international NGO, IPAS is sponsoring the conference in collaboration with the Ghana Ministry of Health, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the Africa Women’s Development and Communications Network (FEMNET), the International Planned Parenthood Federation Africa Regional Office and Marie Stopes International.
Opening the conference on behalf of President John Evans Atta Mills, the Deputy Minister of Health, Mr. Robert Joseph Mettle Nunoo said “It is indeed the time to break the culture of silence on unsafe abortions in Africa. Women have a choice, they have a need, they need to know their rights.”
He said, “If Africa should meet the MDGs, we must give African women voices, choices and support to improve maternal health and eliminate avoidable maternal deaths’.
Touching on what Ghana had achieved in the area of reducing unsafe abortion, Mr. Mettle-Nunoo said Ghana is fortunate to have a law with enough flexibility that can be made responsive to most women’s needs.
Furthermore, he said, the country has national standards and guidelines that clearly states who can provide services, where they can be provided, and eliminate administrative barriers that make access to care difficult.
Inspite of these gains, he noted, there are still the challenges of stigma associated with abortion care among the public and inadequate knowledge of the law.
Dr. Eunice Brookman-Amissah, Ipas Vice president for Africa said the conference was the third in a series of conferences that Ipas has convened with its partners in Africa on the theme of unsafe abortion, adding that these meetings have helped spur momentum for addressing unsafe abortion in Africa, including new commitments at the highest levels.
In addition, she said, many national governments are taking unsafe abortion more seriously and several countries, including Ghana, have applied an approach pioneered by the World Health Organization to study unwanted pregnancy and abortion.
Some countries have further developed national standards and guidelines for abortion care, while in both the public and private sectors, there has been more training for diverse cadres of health care workers, including nurses and midwives, in post abortion and safe abortion care.
Dr Brookman-Amissah noted that in some countries, governments and donors are taking steps to ensure that technologies and supplies for safe abortion are approved and available, so that, finally, African women can benefit from them.
She stressed the importance of real political commitment to address unsafe abortion remains very hard but this needs to happen if we are to eliminate this totally preventable cause of maternal deaths in our countries.
In her address, Elizabeth Maguire, President and CEO, IPAS said the conference will focus on the promises that have been made to African women and girls in support of their health and rights.
These promises are embodied in dozens of international agreements, in national laws and policies, and in mission statements of non-governmental organizations, she added.
Noting that efforts to address women’s unmet need for contraception and to prevent unsafe abortion are still implemented separately in many health systems, Maguire said experience has shown that an integrated approach to contraception and safe abortion is critical to solving the global public health crisis caused by unwanted pregnancies.
She advocated for active participation of civil society, in collaboration with the public sector, which she indicated is “essential to extend the availability of comprehensive abortion care and contraception, to surface the voices and needs of women, to inform women and communities, and to mobilise action.”
She pledged that the momentum coming out of this conference would be maintained and built upon and called on participants not to waver in their determination to do what it takes to eliminate once and for all the needless deaths and injuries from unsafe abortion.
The conference Chair, Dr. Richard B. Turkson, Ghana’s Ambassador to Canada, said though there has been notable progress in addressing unsafe abortion in the last 16 years, the promises that African and global leaders made to Africa women since the International Conference on population and Development in Cairo have not been fully kept.
The issue of how to stop deaths due to unsafe abortion in Africa is the centre of discussions at a four day International conference which opened in Accra yesterday.
The conference, dubbed ‘Keeping Our Promise: Addressing Unsafe Abortion in Africa” is focusing on unsafe abortion as a critical issue for reproductive health and rights in Africa and for achieving the Millennium Development Goal Five to reduce maternal mortality.
Over 250 health experts, policymakers, and practitioners from around the African region have gathered to share best practices and lessons learnt and shape an agenda for action.
The international NGO, IPAS is sponsoring the conference in collaboration with the Ghana Ministry of Health, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the Africa Women’s Development and Communications Network (FEMNET), the International Planned Parenthood Federation Africa Regional Office and Marie Stopes International.
Opening the conference on behalf of President John Evans Atta Mills, the Deputy Minister of Health, Mr. Robert Joseph Mettle Nunoo said “It is indeed the time to break the culture of silence on unsafe abortions in Africa. Women have a choice, they have a need, they need to know their rights.”
He said, “If Africa should meet the MDGs, we must give African women voices, choices and support to improve maternal health and eliminate avoidable maternal deaths’.
Touching on what Ghana had achieved in the area of reducing unsafe abortion, Mr. Mettle-Nunoo said Ghana is fortunate to have a law with enough flexibility that can be made responsive to most women’s needs.
Furthermore, he said, the country has national standards and guidelines that clearly states who can provide services, where they can be provided, and eliminate administrative barriers that make access to care difficult.
Inspite of these gains, he noted, there are still the challenges of stigma associated with abortion care among the public and inadequate knowledge of the law.
Dr. Eunice Brookman-Amissah, Ipas Vice president for Africa said the conference was the third in a series of conferences that Ipas has convened with its partners in Africa on the theme of unsafe abortion, adding that these meetings have helped spur momentum for addressing unsafe abortion in Africa, including new commitments at the highest levels.
In addition, she said, many national governments are taking unsafe abortion more seriously and several countries, including Ghana, have applied an approach pioneered by the World Health Organization to study unwanted pregnancy and abortion.
Some countries have further developed national standards and guidelines for abortion care, while in both the public and private sectors, there has been more training for diverse cadres of health care workers, including nurses and midwives, in post abortion and safe abortion care.
Dr Brookman-Amissah noted that in some countries, governments and donors are taking steps to ensure that technologies and supplies for safe abortion are approved and available, so that, finally, African women can benefit from them.
She stressed the importance of real political commitment to address unsafe abortion remains very hard but this needs to happen if we are to eliminate this totally preventable cause of maternal deaths in our countries.
In her address, Elizabeth Maguire, President and CEO, IPAS said the conference will focus on the promises that have been made to African women and girls in support of their health and rights.
These promises are embodied in dozens of international agreements, in national laws and policies, and in mission statements of non-governmental organizations, she added.
Noting that efforts to address women’s unmet need for contraception and to prevent unsafe abortion are still implemented separately in many health systems, Maguire said experience has shown that an integrated approach to contraception and safe abortion is critical to solving the global public health crisis caused by unwanted pregnancies.
She advocated for active participation of civil society, in collaboration with the public sector, which she indicated is “essential to extend the availability of comprehensive abortion care and contraception, to surface the voices and needs of women, to inform women and communities, and to mobilise action.”
She pledged that the momentum coming out of this conference would be maintained and built upon and called on participants not to waver in their determination to do what it takes to eliminate once and for all the needless deaths and injuries from unsafe abortion.
The conference Chair, Dr. Richard B. Turkson, Ghana’s Ambassador to Canada, said though there has been notable progress in addressing unsafe abortion in the last 16 years, the promises that African and global leaders made to Africa women since the International Conference on population and Development in Cairo have not been fully kept.
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