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February 4, 2008

The Third Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights begins today in Abuja, Nigeria. Participants, speakers and sponsors from the media, academia, nongovernmental organizations, development partners, faith-based groups and government and international agencies will converge on the city this week to discuss this year’s theme, “Sexuality, Poverty and Accountability in Africa.”

The biennial conference, organized by Action Health Incorporated (AHI) and the African Federation for Sexual Health and Rights, aims to explore how sexual health and rights are important to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and to identify sexual health goals for Africa. 

Speaking today, Ipas President and CEO Liz Maguire will discuss strategies for ensuring women’s access to safe abortion in Africa.

“It is simply an outrage that we are well into the 21st century and tens of thousands of African women continue to die each year from complications of botched abortion — at least a quarter of a million [women] since 2000,” she says.

Indeed, more than five million unsafe abortions occur each year and more than half of the 67,000 global deaths from unsafe abortion take place in Africa. Nigeria, host country for the conference, has “the biggest challenge in terms of the magnitude of unsafe abortions and the annual number of deaths from this preventable cause,” says Maguire. There are approximately 140,000 hospital admissions for botched abortions in the country each year.

Following are excerpts from Maguire’s presentation, highlighting the current work and future directions of advocates, African governmental bodies, donors and nongovernmental organizations, including Ipas, in preventing deaths from unsafe abortion and ensuring that women can exercise their human rights.

On the conference theme of accountability:

In global and regional meetings over the last 15 years, governments, NGOs and donors in Africa have all made commitments on sexual and reproductive health and rights, including abortion. The African Union protocol on women’s rights…includes a provision on abortion, and two recent regional strategy documents…call for safe abortion: the Maputo Plan of Action and the Africa regional health strategy adopted last April in Johannesburg.

It is even more positive when these commitments are linked with clear objectives and indicators, as in the Maputo Plan of Action, providing a framework to monitor and measure progress. In the case of abortion, these indicators in the Maputo Plan include the number of countries with action plans, and the number of facilities providing safe abortion care, among others.

On ensuring women’s access to safe abortion:

In order to support women in claiming and exercising their rights, we know that health providers in both the public and private sectors can do much — simply by providing compassionate, woman-centered, comprehensive reproductive health care. 

In the area of abortion, in line with WHO’s guidance, midwives must assume a much greater role, linking women in their communities to the care they need. They must also be given the ability to provide services with WHO-recommended technologies, including manual vacuum aspiration. Our advocacy efforts must do everything possible to expand the role of midwives in abortion care, including eliminating policies that limit their ability to provide such care. 

Ultimately, we cannot rely on governments or health systems alone to take the urgent actions required to fulfill women’s sexual and reproductive rights and reduce unsafe abortion. We must be creative in engaging women and communities at the grass-roots level. Communications efforts are needed to reduce stigma about sexuality education, family planning and abortion, and address other barriers to women reaching care. Men must be involved. Based on what we know about the risks of unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortion, young people must be a major focus. 

These challenges seem enormous – and yet what is involved is the spread of information, ideas, and new ways of thinking. Mobilizing people through their existing social networks is feasible. The vision of sexual and reproductive health and rights that we share in conferences like this one and through other regional networks can help to foster and accelerate change throughout Africa. 

On selected Ipas initiatives to engage women in Africa:

Ipas has undertaken innovative initiatives together with local partners in a number of countries where we are working and we hope to learn more as we gain experience.

In Ethiopia, we are supporting community-based organizations that use traditional coffee ceremonies, drama, and peer-to-peer networking to spread information and support sexual and reproductive health and rights.

In South Africa, we have embarked on a partnership with the provincial health department in Northwest Province to strengthen youth centers, develop the project management skills of youth themselves, and build capacity of young women and men in promotion of sexual and reproductive health. 

In Ghana, we have begun to engage traditional women’s leaders known as “queen mothers” to reduce stigma and help women become aware of their options and rights under Ghanaian law to prevent and manage unwanted pregnancies.

And in Nigeria, we are collaborating with national women’s groups, the media, and government agencies that reach right to the grass roots, building a national movement for women’s sexual and reproductive rights.

Echoing the call to action made at the 2007 Global Safe Abortion conference in London, Maguire concludes:

With leaders from Africa and every region, now is the time to begin a new era in advancing the human dignity and rights of women around the world.

For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258