Brazzaville, 12 September 2006 -- A workshop for Reproductive Health programme managers from 13 African countries got underway Monday in Brazzaville with a call on participants to identify mechanisms for scaling up key interventions to reduce maternal, newborn and child mortality in the region.

“We have health interventions that have been proven to work in reducing neonatal, child and maternal mortality and we should all work in partnership to increase access to skilled care,” WHO Regional Director, Dr Luis Sambo, said while opening the five-day workshop. “It is our hope that you would be able to identify obstacles which lie on the way in our countries to ensure universal access to maternal and child health services, and how we can overcome these obstacles working together in support of national efforts.”

Dr Sambo’s statement was read by the Director of the Division of the Communicable Disease Prevention and Control at the Regional Office, Dr James Mwanzia.

The Regional Director described as “unacceptably high” the region’s maternal mortality rate, estimated at 940 deaths per 100,000 live births, and its neonatal, perinatal and under-five mortality rates, estimated at 45, 76 and 173 per 1000 respectively. ” 

“These figures are an indication of the poor state of health care services in most countries of the region,” he added, pointing out that the situation was aggravated by the heavy burden of communicable diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, the high level of malnutrition as well as cases of gender discrimination and violence.

Dr Sambo said that to address these challenges, WHO was working with countries to: build strong partnerships and commitment for improving maternal, newborn and child health; ensure the implementation of the “Roadmap” to accelerate reduction of maternal and newborn deaths in the region; scale up the implementation of the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness strategy; reposition family planning; address issues of gender equity and women’s empowerment; increase knowledge of sexual and reproductive health issues among Member States, and ensure the availability of guidelines for planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of maternal and child health programmes.

The objectives of the workshop are to review progress and share country experiences in the implementation of maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH) programmes; reach a common understanding on the new orientations for scaling up key MNCH interventions, and agree on mechanisms for scaling up such interventions at country level.

The workshop is being attended by Reproductive Health programme managers from Angola, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria Uganda, and Tanzania. Also participating are reproductive health experts from WHO and representatives of development partners such as UNFPA, UNICEF, USAID, DFID, and the Action for West Africa Region Reproductive Health and Child Survival (AWARE) project.

For more information contact: 

Samuel T. Ajibola

Tel: + 47 241 39378 

Email: ajibolas [at] afro.who.int