Amref Calls For Elimination Of Sexual And Gender-Based Violence

This article was last updated on May 27, 2022

Canada: Free $30 Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Free $30 Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…

..the core of sexual and gender-based violence, a set of practices that lead to physical, psychological and sexual harm are meted out on women more than men due to the mere fact of their being female.

Amref Health Woker Attending to an expectant mother in Lojore PHCU in Terekeka county [Photo| Amref]

JUBA, 10 March 2015 [Gurtong] – Amref Health Africa has called for elimination of sexual and gender-based violence.

Amref Health Africa spokesman, Musa Mahadi Salim said at the core of sexual and gender-based violence, a set of practices that lead to physical, psychological and sexual harm are meted out on women more than men due to the mere fact of their being female.
 
Musa said, “We believe that sustainable development will only come to Africa if women are at the centre of it. It is for this reason that Amref Health Africa has prioritised the health of women and children as an entry point to lasting health change in Africa”.
 
“In South Sudan Amref Health Africa runs 19 projects about 15 of them focussing on women and children” said Amref.
 
“Realizing that South Sudan has the highest maternal mortality in the world standing at 2,054 per 100, 000, Amref Health Africa South Sudan is investing in training of mid midwives at National Health Training Institute Maridi to help curb salvage women who die while giving birth” he said.  
 
Musa said, through Emergency  Clinical, diagnostic and  surgical outreach project ,the organisation was able to comb almost all the ten states of the Country taking surgeons to conduct operation in remote areas  where accessing such services is hard.
 
“At least 70 per cent of the beneficiaries of this project are women. With the support from government and donors like World Health Organization, the organisation is building the capacity of National Referral Laboratory to be able to conduct bacteriology, parasitology and other tests in the country doing away with previous tendency of taking samples to Nairobi or Kampala for tests” explained Musa.

“As we make it happen lets invest in the health of women because they are the heartbeat of our homes and once their health needs are addressed, Health of children and men of the whole country will be addressed” he said.
 
While global data shows that 35 per cent of women worldwide have experienced either intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime, the figures are much higher in Africa.
 
Overall, nearly 50 per cent of all African women have experienced sexual and gender-based violence at one point or another in their lifetime.
 
“Sexual and gender-based violence is a major cause of ill health among women characterised by death and disability due to injuries as well as an increased vulnerability to a range of physical and mental health problems” said Musa.
 
Amref says, survivors of sexual violence are more likely than other women to have unintended pregnancies, report symptoms of reproductive tract infections and have multiple partners.
 
“They are less likely to use condoms and other contraceptives. Violence and the fear of violence severely limit women’s contribution to social and economic development, thereby hindering achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and other national and international development goals” Amref continued.
 
This statement was made as South Sudan joined the rest of the world in commemorating the world women’s days on Sunday.
 

Share with friends
You can publish this article on your website as long as you provide a link back to this page.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*