Raymond Baguma and Anthony Bugembe
21 July 2008
Kampala — AFRICAN countries should address women's health concerns if they are to develop because they form the bulk of the continent's workforce and are the caretakers of the families, First Lady Janet Museveni has said.
The backbone of most economies in sub-Saharan Africa is agriculture and 80% of the labour is provided by women, she said.
"Women are handicapped by maternal mortality and morbidity (death during labour) and that is why our economies are performing poorly."
The First Lady, said as a patron of safe motherhood in Uganda, she has promoted maternal health, but she has seen women suffer and die unnecessarily on the African continent.
She added that more than 50% of Africans were young people who were not yet economically productive and depended on women.
"Therefore, the wellbeing of women in Africa impacts on the state of the economic performance of the countries. If we give women secondary attention, all our economic efforts will come to nothing."
She said Africa was a poor continent because women were incapacitated.
Mrs. Museveni was yesterday opening the 2nd Stop Cervical Cancer in Africa conference at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala.
The two-day conference was organised by the Nigerian Princess Nikky Breast Cancer Foundation in conjunction with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organisation and USAID.
The conference attracted over 400 participants from Sudan, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Egypt, Senegal and Ghana.
The First Lady said there was need to pay attention to early screening for cervical cancer among women.
She noted that poor women suffered the most because they are usually diagnosed late, are illiterate and lack access to information and screening services.
"Women with cervical cancer experience bleeding and relational problems with their spouses, communities and social stigma. Women in the communities suffer and die silently."
She said cervical cancer patients pass out smelly discharges, leading to isolation and family breakdown.
Princess Nikky Onyeri, an activist, said cervical cancer vaccines should be availed to young sexually inactive girls, while sexually active women should freely access cervical cancer screening services.
According to the Ministry of Health, at least 80% of women in Uganda are diagnosed with cervical cancer in its advanced stages, making it difficult to treat.
This is attributed to ignorance, poverty and lack of access to health facilities
The health minister, Dr. Stephen Mallinga, said unless access to cervical cancer prevention programmes in low income countries, especially in Africa, are improved by 2050, more than one million women will suffer from it.
He lamented that most new interventions take several years before reaching targeted beneficiaries.
The Kenyan health minister, Beth Mugo, said cervical cancer vaccines were expensive and accessible only to urban well-to-do women; yet the disease mainly affects the poor women in rural areas.
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