African countries have been urged to prioritize gender equality as a means of enabling women compete on an equal platform as their male counterparts.
According to a Non-Profit Organization, this will provide an environment that women thrive and even help countries improve their Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The Institute for Global Health and Development (IGHD), President and Co-Founder Magda Robalo has emphasized the need to prioritize women’s health as this will improve their productivity as it aids in addressing maternal mortality among women.
“When we have healthy women, we have societies that thrive. Women can work, they can raise their families, they can contribute to the economy of a country in a more productive way, they can live productive lives and that is what we need to be helping government to understand and invest in,” she stated.
She underscored the need for proper investment in this area as this will help various sectors of the economy in African countries.
“Women’s health is critical and important, children’s health is important, men’s health is important. Overall investing in health is the best buy economies can do in the present and in the future in particularly when they make gender equality work especially for women,” she opined.
“That is how we are going to have more stable societies that can thrive and enjoy the opportunities of prosperity for all their citizens.”
She, however, observed that a lot needs to be done in reducing maternal and child mortality.
“The African continent has made great progress in reducing maternal and child mortality, but we seem to be going backward in some countries where child mortality is rising again. We still have a lot of work to do in that area and gender equality,” she said.
She was speaking ahead of the Africa Centre for Disease Control’s annual International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA) set for November 27 to 30 in Lusaka, Zambia.
Dr Robalo called for all-inclusiveness in this year’s conference and stated the need for full participation in the meet to discuss women’s health.
The conference will be hosted by the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the African Union in partnership with Zambia Ministry of Health.
It will be focusing on how stakeholders across the continent are breaking barriers and disrupting the status quo through cutting-edge science and programming under the theme.
Other areas of discussion include Epidemiology, Diagnostics and Clinical Management of Emerging and Re-emerging High Consequence Infectious Diseases (HCID) in Africa.
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