STDs

As African women celebrate the rising numbers of ratifications towards the attainment of the statutory number of fifteen ratifications to bring into force the Protocol to the African Charter on Womens Rights in Africa (Nigeria is the latest member state to ratify the Protocol), it is relevant for us to embark on a simplification of the obligations on Member States and the potential benefits of its provisions for women.

Police reported this week that they were achieving success in combating most crimes, but not rape.

The extent to which primary health care (PHC) can be integrated has been an area of controversy internationally for decades. Within the health sector, the debate includes what PHC services can or should be offered together, or what interventions are best run separately as vertical programmes, and how PHC can be linked via referral mechanisms to other levels of care. The debate also includes a vision of health in its social context, and asks how PHC services can be linked to other sectors, involving preventative and promotive interventions that are broader than traditional biomedical interventions.

Promoting reproductive health is a priority issue in South Africa. Many reproductive health services are poorly developed and inaccessible to those most in need. This is reflected by high rates of other largely preventable conditions such as STDs, teenage pregnancy, cervical cancer, unsafe abortion and ill-health related to pregnancy and child birth.