Africa: Basic Healthcare Remains Elusive to Women and Girls
By George Okore
Many African women and girls still need to be empowered on their healthcare and ill health prevention to realize their potential in development.
These are the most disadvantaged groups, experiencing worst health inequalities, with little or no access to basic health care. The recently released world population report says majority of women, especially in Africa continue to be engaged in occupations requiring low skills, leading to low incomes. The report calls for need for addressing the factors that contribute to low transition and completion rates for girls like poverty, school dropout, early pregnancies and marriages and social attitudes.
Prof. Rosemary Atieno from University of Nairobi calls for access to quality education for girls critical in realizing the potential of women and girls. She notes that though enrolment in primary education for girls has increased with gender parity at primary level improved, transition to higher levels of education, as well as completion rates, still remain low.
“Deliberate efforts to improve their human capital through health, education and training must be made. This must be done through addressing gender inequality in accessing higher education by increasing access to secondary and tertiary education for young females. There should also be efforts to overcome traditional attitudes that form an obstacle to women’s and girls’ education”, argues the don.
In Africa, health inequalities are related to structural determinants such as age, income, education, occupation, gender, ethnicity and place of residence. Many African governments are unable and frustrated by resource constraints to provide quality healthcare to women and girls. This is in contrast to developed countries like England, where health and life expectancy are steadily improving.
Dr Trudy Smith from Witwatersrand University, South Africa, calls for massive campaign to avail reliable, accurate and regular data on appropriate health care services including safe pregnancy and childbirth. She says reproductive health includes reproductive processes, functions and systems. At all stages of life, many women still die of cervical cancer and maternal due to lack of access to health facilities and personal decision making.
She identifies Human PapillomaVirus (HPV) as the most common sexually transmitted virus with a large percentage of sexually active people contracting the genital HPV in their lives. Although there was increased awareness about reproductive health, Dr Smith obseres that maternal mortality was high in many countries due to ignorance, poverty, and inaccessibility to contraceptives.
The common contraception includes barrier methods- condoms (male/female), diaphragm, hormonal contraception, injectable contraceptives, implants, permanent methods (sterilization and vasectomy), emergency pills, and abstinence.