PRESS RELEASE
GENDER IS MY AGENDA CAMPAIGN NETWORK (GIMAC) AND PARTNERS LAUNCH REGIONAL
ADVOCACY DIALOGUE FOR MATERNAL MORTALITY REDUCTION ACROSS AFRICA
Through a series of continent-wide dialogue and advocacy, the GIMAC Network in collaboration with Africa Leadership Forum, Femme Africa Solidarité and MSD for Mothers is launching a high profile, regional engagement strategy among policy makers, government officials, civil society groups, United Nations representatives, and a range of public health advocates to address the fundamental challenges of maternal deaths in Africa. The aim is to seek innovative solutions to improve maternal health delivery systems, towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal- SDG 3 across the region.
Quality Healthcare delivery is failing in Africa, as too many pregnant women continue to suffer
endlessly, especially during childbirth. While commendable progress has been made in improving women’s access to maternal services in Africa, every day over 800 still die from pregnancy-related complications. At least 7,000 stillbirths also occur every day, half of these babies who were alive when labor began, and 7,000 babies die in the first month of life. It is also reported that pregnancy-related complications, which are preventable, are the number one cause of death among girls between 15 and 19 years of age.
The continued prevalence of maternal mortality is a clear signal that Africa is not yet doing what needs to be done to protect the lives and health of women. The objective of the E-discussion is to strengthen regional advocacy for maternal mortality reduction by leveraging on regional leadership to increase attention on strengthening Africa and national responses to meet the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) SDGs target of 70 deaths per 100,000 live births.
GIMAC Network’s common commitment to reducing maternal mortality is part of an unfinished health and development agenda of Africa. Making pregnancy safer is a matter of reducing inequities, addressing the human rights of women and creating a social movement to promote and protect the health of women and their infants at the vulnerable time of pregnancy and childbirth.
To this end, scheduled regional dialogues series organized among Experts and Policy makers across Africa will be taking place in Nigeria on Wednesday 30th September 2020 and Wednesday 28th October 2020; while Senegal will hold its sessions on Wednesday 7th October and 4th November 2020 respectively. Continental discourse to share promising practices and advocacy strategies from events in Nigeria and Senegal to other Member States will be organized for all GIMAC stakeholders later in November 2020, while the outcome of GIMAC meetings will be tabled at the AU Head of Government
Summit in 2021.
