17 December 2012 – Monrovia, Liberia – Women living in Africa face a formidable range of threats to their health throughout their life time. They bear an unacceptably huge burden of disease and death and account for more than half of deaths of women worldwide due to communicable and noncommunicable diseases, maternal and perinatal conditions and nutritional deficiencies. These findings are contained in a World Health Organization (WHO) report launched today in Monrovia, Liberia by Her Excellency Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf President of the 16-member multidisciplinary Commission on Women’s Health in the African Region.

The report – ‘Addressing the Challenges of Women’s Health in Africa’ says that the unacceptably high level of maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, calls for a fundamental rethinking of approaches to improving women’s health which should be informed by an understanding of the sociocultural determinants that are so important in shaping it.  To make sustainable improvements in women’s health, the report calls on policy makers to strive to improve the social status of women, notably through empowerment that comes with education and unhindered participation in all professional spheres. It also calls for political will to initiate large scale investments in women’s health and the commitment to sustain it. 

Speaking at the launch, President Johnson-Sirleaf said:"The Commission's report hightlights the immense contribution that women make to Africa's socio-ecominc advancement as well the challenges of dealing with the preventive causes of death of women". She called on all stakeholders to identify ways in which together we will ensure that the progress made is maintained and enhanced.

According to the report, the failure of health systems in the majority of African countries to provide accessible care of adequate quality is one of the main drivers of the current state of women’s health. This situation stems from underinvestment in women’s health and also from other factors such as inadequate empowerment of women and poor health systems design. The majority of modern health care services provided in the Region are clinic-based, physician-oriented and urban centred, leaving the predominantly rural population woefully underserved. 

In his remarks, the World Health Organization, Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo said:"Low access to education, decision-making positions and poor economic status limit women's ability to protect their own health. This increases their vulnerability and compromises the important role they play in their families, communities and society at large".
"What pains is that most of the challenges could be avoided if preventive measures were taken and adequate care made available", he stressed.

Any country that limits women’s contribution to society to only childbearing pays a heavy price in terms of its socioeconomic development. One of the most important actions for positive change in the African Region is improving women’s education. Policy makers need to commit more resources to improve girls’ access to schools. Educating women promotes socioeconomic empowerment. However, the empowerment will be incomplete unless women are also allowed to participate fully in the job market and to enjoy the fruits of their own labour”, the report notes.

Gender discrimination and violence against women particularly certain harmful traditional practices such as female genital mutilation is cited as unacceptable degradation of women’s rights. While many countries of sub-Saharan Africa have passed laws penalizing the practice, the report calls for legislation to be complemented by more broad-based efforts including public education programmes and the involvement of professional organizations, women’s groups in anti-female genital mutilation campaigns, as well as interaction with communities to address the cultural reasons that perpetuates this practice.

The report also stresses that women’s health needs change during the various stages of their lives and the importance of having adequate data to monitor their health status across the various stages in life is highlighted. It further underscores the need for a holistic, multidisciplinary approach that links together biomedical, sociocultural and economic factors affecting women’s health.

Referring to the Global Malaria Report 2012 which was launched concurrently at the event, Dr Sambo observed that an estimated 1.1 million deaths have been averted primarily as a result of a scale-up of malaria control actions. He pointed out that particular attention should be given to mitigating the risks of resistance to insecticides, ensuring universal access to cost effective actions as well as putting in place stronger disease surveillance systems.

The 2012 Global Malaria Report points out some worrisome signs about the sustainability of the gains achieved so far. The current level of funding remains insufficient to achieve universal coverage of WHO recommended malaria interventions and the Regional Director underscored the urgent need to strengthen health systems, identify and tap on new funding sources and ensure sustained and predictable health financing. He called on governments, partners and communities to identify new ways of improving efficiencies of health care delivery systems and move towards everyone having access to health care.
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For more information, please contact:
Dr Triphonie Nkurunziza Email: Nkurunzizat [at] afro.who.int
Collins Boakye-Agyemang  E-mail: Boakyec [at] afro.who.int