Addis Ababa — Solving some of Africa's toughest problems requires the necessary political will, United Nations Population Fund Executive Director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin told a gathering of African ministers at a breakfast meeting before the start of the Ministerial Session of the African Regional Conference on Population and Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 3 October.

Dr. Osotimehin acknowledged the progress Africa has made in reducing maternal mortality and empowering women, for instance by increasing women's representation in parliament and ensuring more girls are in school. Despite the progress, however, many issues remain to be addressed adequately, such as gender-based violence, child marriage and female genital mutilation. "These are still there and we need to reduce them," he said. "We must also reduce maternal mortality to zero."

In addressing these issues, he said, "We know what causes them, we know what works, and we know what to do. So it's about political will." This means implementing the programmes that have been put in place in African countries and scaling them up.

"As an African myself, I feel very proud about the progress we have made at this meeting, but we are competing with other regions. Ours is the last meeting, and I want it to be the best," he said. He urged the ministers to commit to ensuring the meeting produced the best - and consensual - results.