First Lady champions anti-maternal deaths

The First lady, Lordina Mahama, has started a crusade to convince her colleague African First Ladies to enhance the lives of women and children by reducing cervical/ breast cancers, HIV AIDS, maternal and child mortality.

Lordina Mahama gave the concluding remarks at a high-level dialogue with African first ladies on maternal and new-born health beyond 2014 on the sidelines of the 69th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York recently.

The dialogue on Maternal and New-Born Health beyond 2014 was put together by the organization of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA) in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund.

At the UN General assembly, Mrs. Mahama was very vocal in her crusade as she tried to convince other African First Ladies to take a critical look at mortality rates of mothers and newborns.

At the session, other African First Ladies took turns to catalogue the challenges that confront women, children and adolescents in their respective countries.

The event attracted First Ladies and dignitaries from across the African continent and beyond in a bid to advocate the reduction of maternal mortality in Africa with a focus on adolescent girls who are the great sufferers.

Mrs. Mahama’s crusade is in line with the Millennium Development Goal 5 which stipulates sexual and reproductive health rights of women particularly adolescent girls by 2015.

The First Lady is attending a capacity building workshop for African First Ladies

The capacity building workshop on advocacy for health for African First Ladies is to empower them to make an impact in their respective countries and the sub-Saharan region.

The spate of unwanted and unplanned pregnancies could be curbed if women took charge of their bodies and exercised their human and sexual rights.

This is what the International Planned Parenthood Federation is advocating and has held a capacity building workshop for African First Ladies to enable them educate their women and adolescent girls.

This will be done through advocacy at high-level dialogue meetings, at the administrative level and through public engagement.

With women, children and adolescent girls as their prime focus, they will tackle areas such as prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS, improve maternal, neonatal and child health, and curb the spate of breast and cervical cancer.

What appears to be priority however is the need to educate women on their human and sexual right.

Regional Chairperson of the International Planned Parenthood Federation of the Africa Region Executive Committee, Kweku Brenu, believes the event couldn’t have been held at a better time.

The IPPF is, therefore, advocating that women take charge of their bodies and be the one to make the decisions that affect their human and sexual right.

Executive Director of UN AIDS, Michel Sidibe whose organization is committed to the work of OAFLA to end the AIDS epidemic commended the African First Ladies for their hard work.