Today, 4 September 2010, marks the commemoration of the second Women’s Health Day in the African Region. It is a day for reflection on the poor health status of women in Member States of the WHO African Region. Crucially, it is also a day for identifying solutions to address this problem.
The theme for Women’s Health Day this year is “Effective partnerships: Key to improving women’s health”. The theme was adopted in recognition of the urgent need for collective and multisectoral actions for more coherent political and institutional support to Member States to improve women’s health.
Women account for more than half of the population of the African Region. They play a vital role in the survival and development of societies. They have proved to be the very fabric that binds communities together everywhere. However, in spite of their invaluable contribution, women, at every stage of their lives, bear the highest burden of morbidity and mortality from various socioeconomic, cultural and environmental factors.
Despite global and regional efforts to improve women’s health, death of women especially during and shortly after childbirth remains an unresolved challenge in the African Region. Millennium Development Goal 5 (MDG 5) is to reduce maternal mortality ratio by three quarters between 1990 and 2015. Although at least 5.5% annual reduction rate is needed to achieve this goal, the actual rate was only 0.1 per cent over the 15-year period between 1990 and 2005. The average maternal mortality in the African Region is still 900 per 100 000 live births. Thirteen of the 46 countries in the Region have maternal mortality ratios of over 1000 per 100 000 live births while only four out of the 46 countries have ratios below 300 per 100 000 live births.
The low health status of women in the African Region results from a wide range of factors including gender inequality as well as socioeconomic, legal, political, environmental and other factors related to health systems. For this reason, women’s health concerns cannot be addressed by the health sector alone. Addressing the concerns will require a comprehensive and multisectoral approach involving a broad range of key actors. Effective partnerships can contribute to addressing the problem of women’s health.
The United Nations family has several ongoing global and regional initiatives designed to improve women’s health through partnerships with governments, bilateral and multilateral agencies, civil society and the private sector. Women’s Health: A strategy for the African Region of WHO; the Maputo Plan of Action of the African Union; the Campaign for Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa (CARMMA) also of the African Union; the recent Global Health Initiative of the Government of USA; and the 2010 Muskoka Initiative of the G8 are all examples of the increasing partnership efforts of the global and regional communities to address the current poor health status of women in Africa. The UN Secretary-General’s Joint Action Plan provides yet another platform for all governments, bilateral and multilateral agencies, civil society and the private sector to work in partnership to improve the health of women and children.
The WHO Regional Office for Africa has already established a Commission on Women’s Health to generate evidence on the role of improved women’s health on socioeconomic development, for advocacy and policy action.
Today, as we commemorate Women’s Health Day 2010, I urge intensification of partnership building to empower women to have control over their own health; to have proper education and lead more fulfilling lives; to be free from violence and its physical and mental health impacts; and to take part in decision-making about all issues that affect their health and that of their families.
For its part, WHO remains committed to supporting governments to promote policies and actions to improve women’s health in countries of the African Region.
I thank you.