Tragedy in Uganda and a Rare Opportunity to Deliver for Africa's Women

These past few weeks especially, Kampala has been on my mind. Not least because of the senseless attacks that took place there last week. The injustice of terrorism is confounding, and it is a tragedy that innocent people pay the price. But Kampala is on my mind also because, amidst the grief over recent events there is an amazing opportunity. The city is host to the 15th African Union Summit.

The theme of this year's Summit, building on the momentum of Women Deliver and the G8 Summit in the past months, is "maternal, infant, and child health and development in Africa." I cannot imagine a more important theme for a meeting in Africa, taking place at a more momentous time. Millions of women across Africa still struggle to realize their rights and live healthy, fulfilled lives beneath the burdens of poverty, sexual violence and unplanned pregnancies.

But with peril there is also possibility. As Heads of State and high-level ministers from nearly every country in the continent convene in Kampala this week and next, there is a singular opportunity to deliver for women across Africa in a major way -- by renewing the Maputo Plan of Action.

Four years ago in Maputo, Mozambique, an intrepid group of African heads solidified the Plan of Action, which I would argue is one of the most progressive and forward-thinking international frameworks for sexual and reproductive health and rights ever penned. Signed into action in 2006, the Plan expires this year. Next week, African leaders can -- and should -- renew the plan through 2015, to align with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The Maputo Plan of Action is a road map to prosperity and stability for Africa, and a clear strategy for achieving the MDGs. It outlines the steps necessary for reducing maternal mortality, addressing reproductive health needs, ensuring economic opportunities, and delivering a promising future for those who are essential in making the continent go round: women, of course.

Without ensuring the reproductive and maternal health of its women, Africa simply will not reach those elusive eight development goals. Africa has much to lose if the health and rights of its women are not prioritized, and African leaders and advocates know this. Powerful national and regional movements are already moving the reproductive health and rights agenda forward. For example, the Campaign on Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa (CARMMA) was launched by eight countries last year and by ten more countries this year. It is a resounding call that governments across this vast continent understand the power and import of women.

Last month, my good friend Dr. Fred Sai, a leading Ghanaian physician, wrote about the need for African leaders to redouble efforts on maternal health, asking 'Where is Africa?' He asks us to support African efforts on maternal and reproductive health and we will -- by commending efforts underway and continuing to push for government accountability, increased budget lines, and speedier access to more innovative and effective maternal and reproductive health interventions.

Progress on this front has been slow, sometimes uneven, but consistent. Every time I visit Africa, as I touch down on the tarmac I remember my first trip there more than 40 years ago. I was 27 years old and volunteering at a family planning clinic at Pumwani Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. I met a woman with a baby on her back and a baby on her front. She was tired, burdened and looking for family planning. She was 27 too. We connected and I was able to help her, ensuring that she got contraceptive supplies -- a small token but a powerful symbol for her that she was now in control of her body and her life.

But I think of the 200 million more women just like her, still in need of family planning and the millions more in need of other health services, opportunities to go to school, earn money, and realize their potential as human beings. The Maputo Plan of Action is a tool to address these persistent ills, and it encapsulates the innovation, vision, and commitment that African leaders have to offer on issues of sexual and reproductive and maternal health.

I recently wrote a letter to African Heads of State congratulating them on their efforts to prioritize sexual and reproductive health and urging them to continue full-force, renewing the Maputo Plan of Action this weekend. It is not often that leaders have the opportunity to actualize something so powerful, so promising, that they can help lead the way for advocates worldwide. I invite you to join me in adding your name here.

 

Follow Jill Sheffield on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JillSheffield

Comments

[poonchkie]

05:45 AM on 07/23/2010

The rest of the World is slowly throwing off the yolks of centuries of Colonialism and the aftermath. In the mean time America is still holding on to failing policies. Sen Angle and the so called right-to-lifers still regard women in this Country as nothing more than walking wombs with no rights. A zygote or fetus has more rights than a woman. Angle and her ilk are okay with a woman having been raped, being forced to bear the child of her rapist even if the pregnancy threatens her life. After the child is born both mother and child are on their own. Violence against women is tolerated as men get light sentences. Public assistance is one of the "entitlement programs" railed against by the Rebubs and the rich even as they insist on not taxing their own money. Children are abused and neglected on a monumental scale by adults, clergy and the system. How many children has Angle adopted, how many children have any of the right-to-lifer's adopted? Why are there so many children languishing in our foster care system? We have a long way to go in protecting the weakest among us.

I see a future where we are the third-World country with a few super-rich at the top and poor clamboring masses struggling to survive at the bottom.

[Usama]

11:21 AM on 07/22/2010

While terrorism IS horrible, one has to ask what exactly IS terrorism and why are the political circumstances revolving around it always ignored.? Uganda is America's partner in using military power to shape the affairs of other people, in particular in the Horn of Africa. Somalia is said to have 100s of billions in minerals and resources, including billions of tons of coal, but also uranium, oil, and precious metals. And America called its proxy, the Ethiopian dictator to invade Somalia to oust the grassroots, moderate UIC United Islamic Courts government in 2006 from power. What followed was Ethiopian occupation, chaos, hardening and extremism of Somalis against occupation, and the AMISOM AU military forces requested by America to replace Ethiopia. The only militaries that volunteered to continue occupation over Somalia was Uganda and Rwanda. All of North AFrica refused. All of west Africa refused, including Nigeria. Southern Africa refused. Even Kenya refused. Uganda took the imperial mantle from America and put itself into imperial service.

The Uganda attacks are entirely explainable. And Al Jazeera recently reported that Ugandan AMISOM forces had been and continue to shell indiscriminately civilian neighorhoods where Shabab fighters are seen, killing untold numbers of civilians (untold because MSM won't report their numbers).

Ugandan political leadership should be held account for engaging in American imperial occupations and counterinsurgency in Somalia.

[poonchkie]

05:14 AM on 07/23/2010

America is using military power to shape many Countries. The U.S. shells cities in Afganistan and Pakistan using drones and the MSM rarely covers it as well. We get every utterance of a host of idiots and everyday there is a politcal scandel. Just look at the comments on any article that has Palin in it and the number of comments on serious subjects like this.