African 1st Ladies attend Sexual Health and Rights Confab in Accra
President John Dramani Mahama is rallying support from African governments for African First Ladies in their fight against HIV and AIDS.
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Opening the 7th Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights (ACSHR) in Accra yesterday, the President said previously the first ladies of Africa did a lot of good work but that was on the individual levels.
African presidents, he said, were, therefore, lucky to have their wives come together to support their husbands and governments battle the deadly disease on a common front.
The three-day conference is being hosted by Curios Minds, a youth group, with support from UNFPA under the auspices of the African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA), which has Ghana’s First Lady, Mrs Lordina Mahama, as President.
It is on the theme, “Harnessing the demographic dividend: the critical importance of adolescents and youth sexual and reproductive health rights.”
As one of the major continental conferences being held just after the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the first ladies are using the forum to challenge themselves to make 2016 a year in which they would advance efforts towards accelerating the progress of the continent with particular emphasis on improved health of the people.
The conference will discuss prevention and elimination of HIV and AIDS, reduction of maternal and infant mortality, elimination of child and forced marriage, and reduction of teenage pregnancies on the continent.
Common threat
President Mahama said HIV/AIDS had become a common threat to the entire continent, therefore formation of an organisation by the first ladies with the target to support their husbands and governments in battling the disease was one of the best things to happen to the continent.
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Besides HIV/AIDS, he said, all the other things that the first ladies were involved in were critical to the advancement of the continent.
“As governments and other agencies involved in the fight against HIV and AIDS, one of the things we need to do is to keep our focus on working towards ending the disease completely,” he said.
Ghana’s case
Taking a specific look at Ghana, the President said one area where emphasis had been placed was the elimination of mother-to-child transmission, where significant progress had been made.
Notwithstanding the gains made so far, President Mahama stressed the need for continued education, especially in voluntary testing.
“If you test negative then you must work as hard as possible to prevent yourself from getting positive. And if you are positive it is not a death sentence as anti-retroviral is available to enable them to live normal lives,” he stated.
President Mahama said the country was also working on cervical and breast cancer, which were also major problems, adding that the Lordina Foundation had been very active in those areas.
Creating opportunities
He spoke against child marriages, saying it was a cruel practice that must be confronted with all seriousness.
“That is why we must create opportunities for girls to not only go to school but to stay in school,” the President said.
He mentioned the positive story of the free compulsory basic education, saying that as much as 97 to 98 per cent of children of school age were arriving in primary school.
Advancing health
In a welcome address, the First Lady, Mrs Mahama, emphasised the benefits of a well-informed and educated population, adding, “It is a catalyst for progress and prosperity.”
“We, therefore, need a core of young people that are educated, confident, innovative, business-minded development-oriented and healthy,” she added.
Mrs Mahama, who is also the President of OAFLA, hailed the progress made under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the areas of maternal mortality reduction, improving child survival, reduction of HIV and AIDS, female empowerment and access to education.
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But, she mentioned two new targets – the Africa Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, to which she called for greater attention towards the achievement of the 17 global goals.
She stressed the need for massive investment in Africa’s youth as that was one sure way of achieving a better future for the continent and its people.
Information
Mrs Mahama spoke about the importance of health education among adolescents and the youth.
“In these modern times, we have enough avenues for providing information and services to our adolescents and young people to avert contracting sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies,” she said.
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She advocated a much stronger onslaught on maternal mortality, saying that “no woman should lose her life while giving birth to life”.
The First Lady also called for extra measures to prevent the youth from falling into the trap of extremism and other forms of lawlessness.
UNFPA
Delivering the keynote address, the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Professor Babatunde Osotimehin, said 30 per cent of Africa’s one billion population were made up of young people.
That unprecedented high number of youth, he said, called for urgent attention, planning and action to ensure the emergence of a new generation of empowered, knowledgeable, healthy and motivated individuals.
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He stressed the need for African leaders to provide the youth with the necessary education and skills to enable them to unearth their potentials in order to contribute to the development of the continent.
For his part, the Conference Convener, Dr Uwemedimo Uko Esiet, said Africa was the hope for the world and there was, therefore, the need for self-sufficiency on the continent.