The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is seeking for USD 400 Million to continue work on the unfinished population agenda in Africa.
The agenda includes ending preventable maternal deaths claiming 85,000 mothers annually, ending sexual transmission of HIV, ending unmet needs for family planning services and ending gender-based violence among others.
Dr Natalia Kanem, the Executive Director of UNFPA says they require the funds to implement programmes that will deliver a world where every pregnancy is intended, every childbirth is safe and every young persons’ potential is fulfilled over three years leading to 2021.
Dr Kanem says while the continent has made progress in many key indicators of human development, many communities still require well-trained midwives to attend to mothers in labour.
“Most maternal deaths could be avoided with simple, low-cost interventions to prevent or treat complications during and following pregnancy and childbirth especially in poor rural and humanitarian communities” she stated.
The UN Population Fund says 19.6 Million people are living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in Africa with 800,000 new infections recorded in 2017 alone while some 380,000 HIV related deaths were registered.
In Uganda an estimated 1.5 million people are living with HIV according to the Ministry of Health. UNFPA says strengthening political commitment to primary prevention of new infection will go a long way in improving the health of the population as well as its productivity.
“Urgently address policy and structural barriers that impede access to HIV related information and services for girls, women and marginalized populations,” Dr Kanem told the 8th African Population Conference.
Part of the dollars will be spent on elimination of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), a common but harmful cultural practice dominant in Eastern Uganda.
Population scientists at the meeting say institutionalizing in and out of school comprehensive sexuality education will accelerate prevention, care and access to family planning information and HIV for the youth, the most critical engine for development of the continent.
Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng says government has published a new demographic data for Uganda to guide informed decision making on where to invest new financial and human resources.
On Monday, Vice President Edward Ssekandi told the same Conference that government will continue to undertake prioritized investment in industrialization to create more jobs for the youthful population in the country. He said increasing electricity generation capacity for the country will drive industrialization and improve living conditions for the population employed in the informal sector.
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