Obama lifts suspension on Africa

  1. Posted on Friday 27 March 2009 - 10:55
    Sanday
    Image of Sanday
    Sanday Chongo Kabange, AfricaNews reporter in Lusaka, Zambia
    U.S President Barrack Obama has reversed a decision by his predecessor George Bush to ban the supply of contraceptives to seven African based family planning organizations. The ban had initially disrupted the supply of family planning materials by Marie Stopes International to Zambia, Ghana, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
    Aids_Roel Burgler
    Marie Stopes International Zambia Country Director Emma Warwick disclosed in the Zambian capital, Lusaka that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) would oversee the new directive.
    Warwick said lack of access to modern contraceptive methods contributed to deaths of thousands of women in the affected African countries each year. She cited pregnancy related complications such as unsafe abortions as one of the major effects that many women across Africa faced.

    She explained that one in every four women in Zambia for example, would like to access Family Planning but is unable to do so.

    "This policy reversal exemplifies the Obama Administration's commitment to supporting women and men in Africa. Access to contraceptives is key to ending the tragic and unnecessary toll of maternal deaths in Zambia especially amongst women, both young and old," Warwick said in a media statement.

    Marie Stopes International Chief Executive, Dana Hovig said there has been clear evidence over the past years that voluntary access to contraceptives is one of the best ways to reduce the number of maternal deaths in Africa including those from unsafe abortions.

    Hovig said research conducted in one of their programs revealed that out of 315 unwanted pregnancies, 45 were unsafe abortions, while two were maternal deaths.

    Marie Stopes International is one of the leading family planning organizations world-wide that administer sexual and reproductive health programmes in 43 countries. In 2008 alone, an estimated 13 million couples were protected from unwanted pregnancies.

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