Published by the government of Zimbabwe
14 July 2008
Harare — Zimbabwe has made great strides in championing the rights of women as well as improving reproductive health, an official with the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers' Association has said.
Speaking at a family planning workshop, which coincided with commemorations for World Population Day on Friday, ZWLA director Ms Emilia Muchana said more women in Zimbabwe now had access to health care while gender equality had also improved over the years.
She urged stakeholders, particularly the private sector, to continue assisting Government to ensure it maintained and boosted its record on women rights and reproductive health.
"Zimbabwe's legal framework on women rights and reproductive health is encouraging," she said.
"More and more women now have access to health services," she said, adding this was one of the most important basic human rights.
Ms Muchana said the National Family Planning Act, which led to the establishment of a National Family Planning Council, was evidence of Government's efforts to provide access to reproductive health and the right for all people to be able to decide the number and timing of their children.
The Domestic Violence Act also showed the country's commitment to the interests of women.
Meanwhile, Ms Muchana urged Government to improve implementation of the Termination of Pregnancy Act so as to allow women to terminate the pregnancy in cases such as rape.
"There is lot of bureaucracy in this process," she said, adding a number of women had since given birth to "unwanted kids" due to delays in granting them the go-ahead to terminate such pregnancies.
Termination had also been confused with abortion, which was religiously wrong.
The one-day workshop brought together women organisations, civic society, the private and public sector.
New Ziana.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Herald. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
