Despite significant progress made since 1994 on maternal health, some 295,000 women still die annually due to pregnancy-related complications. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of women also suffer severe and chronic complications from obstetric fistula. Most of these deaths and disabilities occur in sub-Saharan Africa, and are linked to socioeconomic inequality and women’s disempowerment. What will it take for countries to eliminate preventable maternal and neonatal deaths? This session will highlight the significant achievements that select countries have made to achieve maternal health and universal health coverage, leveraging the platform of the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 to facilitate the exchange of lessons learned and best practices between countries. This concurrent session will also take stock of the gaps in access to maternal health care, and offer an opportunity for stakeholders to recommit to the promise made to women and newborns in Cairo 25 years ago.
We are 10 years away from delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals. Yet the world’s progress has thus far been insufficient to meet the targets on reducing maternal deaths, ending violence against women and girls, and providing universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights. This session will highlight the urgency and the price tag associated with each target. The latter will come from a major collaborative analysis between academic and multilateral partners indicating the dollar amount needed to reach these goals.
What barriers stand in the way of people of African descent accessing sexual and reproductive health? Where and how can policies, programmes and agendas meaningfully include marginalized populations, especially Afro-descendants? Participants in this open dialogue will reflect on these questions, with a look to promoting inter-continental conversations and an exchange of best practices. This dialogue is an opportunity to mobilize and secure global commitments for equity and inclusion of Afro-descendants.
Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is necessary to achieve universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, and it is essential to advancing gender equality. This session will engage attendees with interactive discussions and intergenerational dialogues that showcase best practices and cutting-edge research about successfully implementing CSE programmes. It will conclude with an exciting partnership launch to accelerate support and commitments for the implementation of CSE. This partnership will also aim to generate new evidence and advocate against the myths that undermine CSE. The event will be convened by AfriYAN, Teenergizer, Population Council, IPPF, Rutgers, UNESCO and UNFPA.
South-South and Triangular Cooperation is increasingly important as the new way of mobilizing knowledge and resources for global development. This session will capitalize on successes in population and reproductive health programing, which are expanded through South-South and Triangular Cooperation commitments. It will bring in experts to explore how new opportunities can be leveraged to deliver Agenda 2030 and accelerate the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action.
