Africa accounts for a tenth of the world’s population, 20% of the world’s births and half of the mothers who die during pregnancy and childbirth come from Africa.
One of the fundamental causes of this situation is the lack of access to important interventions to improve reproductive health, such as family planning. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that poor reproductive health accounts for 18% of the global disease burden and 32% of the total disease burden in women of reproductive age. The failure to target men with reproductive health interventions weakens the impact of reproductive health programs.
This has had a devastating impact on the reproductive health of mothers, newborns and adolescents in Africa. Interruption of access to sexual and reproductive health services in Africa puts pregnant women and their families at greater risk. More unsafe births, less access to contraception, and an increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases have long-term effects on women, their families, and society.
Women need men and partners in the field of reproductive health to understand the risks to which they are exposed and strategies to prevent women. Initiatives and information on preventive reproductive health must go beyond the all-female gender. Issues of gender identity and tolerance for the expression of sexuality and reproduction must be strengthened in the context of the current risks to reproductive health.
Knowledge of sexual and reproductive health services and access to appropriate care have the power to improve people’s lives. Raising awareness and informing people about sexual or reproductive health and related services is crucial.
Midwives must be able to visit women and information campaigns must continue to wear face masks. Sexual and reproductive health covers a wide variety of topics including contraception methods, consequences of sexual and intimate partner violence, female genital mutilation and transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. This means that at the very least, the public health sector should be better equipped to deal with complications in pregnancy and childbirth, the transmission of sexually transmitted infections including HIV / AIDS and the sexual / reproductive health of young people and to ensure access to condoms and other contraceptives.
UNHCR attaches great importance to providing high quality sexual and reproductive health services to refugees and other affected persons. Regular assessments of sexual / reproductive health and legal services are carried out in the context of the fight against COVID-19 and its adverse effects on African regions, countries and health systems. These assessments aim to identify gaps in the availability of essential SRHR services to the population.
Regular assessments of the provision of sexual and reproductive health and rights services can serve as a decision-making tool and resource mobilisation tool to ensure that all people in the African region have access to these services at all times. The study and implementation of scientific, policy and health policy changes is crucial to accelerate the impact of interventions and programs to improve sexual and reproductive health outcomes for young people in South Africa.
In order to achieve the best possible results in the field of sexual and reproductive health for young people in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), effective interventions and technologies need to be implemented quickly. There are several effective intervention programmes in the region to improve the sexual / reproductive health and well-being of young people. However, there are still significant gaps in the implementation of these interventions in practice and in policing.
There is broad agreement that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) relating to maternal and newborn health will be unattainable unless serious efforts are made. The lack of youth-friendly health services and insufficient policy guidance to meet health needs is a priority issue that all countries in the region should address. Experts argue that a major global convergence of health-care countries by 2030 to reduce infectious diseases and child and maternal mortality, as found in high-performing middle-income countries, can only be achieved by addressing preventable and treatable health problems in adolescents.
The COVID 19 pandemic has become a major global public health crisis, leading to interruptions in the supply and use of health services and the potential risk of adverse effects on maternal and child health. The Regional Office for Africa is carrying out a rapid assessment of the continuity of essential sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in the African region under COVID -19. Popular dating sites like https://benaughty.app have also contributed, promising to donate a percent of their membership fees to the cause.
Adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Sub-Saharan Africa remains a major public health problem, particularly for adolescent girls. Although there has been progress on indicators relating to adolescent sexual behavior, marriage, fertility, family planning, and HIV as a whole, most differences between urban and rural settings, education levels, and between poor and rich households persist and require greater attention. In sub-Africa, there are major differences in the sexual / reproductive health of adolescents between West and Central Africa, East and South Africa and between countries in these regions, demonstrating the importance of country-specific data as a guide for policies and programs to improve adolescents sexual and reproductive health for all adolescents.
Youth health services in Tanzania: Community and school-based provision of youth-friendly health services as part of a package that includes education on reproductive health in primary schools, youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services, promotion and distribution of condoms at the community level and community-wide activities.
Effectiveness of a short curriculum to promote the use of condoms in schools among young adult men. Effects of a community-based sex education and reproductive health program on contraceptive use among unmarried adolescents in Shanghai. In this study, in addition to routine programs and activities offered at control centers, the program should also increase awareness of sexuality and reproduction and provide counseling and services to unmarried adolescents.
