Africa: UN Boss Draws Attention To Women's Health
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The Analyst (Monrovia)
11 July 2008
Posted to the web 11 July 2008
The Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon has been commenting on the health situation women around the globe are faced with, saying that the rate of death for women remains "the starkest indicator" of the disparity between rich and poor.
In his message on World Population Day, he said they are aware as to what is needed to be dome to meet the basic health needs of women throughout their life cycle, especially during what he called "during the reproductive years, pregnancy and childbirth."
The UN Secretary General said there are three interventions necessary to improve maternal health skilled attendance at the time of birth, facilities to provide emergency obstetric care and family planning.
"Forty years ago, world leaders proclaimed that individuals have a basic right to determine freely and responsibly the number and timing of their children. Millennium Development Goal 5, improving maternal health, affirms this right and yet shows the least progress to date.
On World Population Day, let us focus on the critical importance of family planning if we are to successfully achieve the Millennium Development Goals," Mr. Ban said.
He said family planning is a fundamental component of reproductive health as it allows for determining the spacing of pregnancies. "Studies show that family planning has immediate benefits for the lives and health of mothers and their infants.
Ensuring basic access to family planning could reduce maternal deaths by a third and child deaths by as much as 20 per cent,' he said.
According to him, the benefits of family planning remain out of reach for many, especially for those he said often have the hardest time getting the information and services they need to plan their families, such as the poor, marginalized populations and young people.
He added that demand will only increase, as more than one billion people ages 15-24 enter their reproductive years. At the same time, the UN Secretary General called on governments to honor the commitments made at the International Conference on Population and Development.
It may be recalled that at the Cairo Conference, nations agreed that all couples and individuals have the basic human right to not only decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children, but also to have the information, education and means to do so.
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"As we intensify our efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, let us take action to reduce maternal mortality and achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015. Let us devote greater attention and resources to the work to improve the health and quality of life for all people," he concluded.
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