Nairobi, 22 October -- Kenya's Public Health Minister, Prof. Sam Ongeri, has commended the World Health Organization for responding to the Reproductive Health challenges facing the African Region by establishing an expert body to advise on how to address the problems.

In a message to the inaugural meeting of the Regional Reproductive Health Task Force which was officially opened in Nairobi Tuesday, Prof. Ongeri stated that WHO's efforts were commendable given the fact that a wide range of traditional, cultural, policy and legislative hurdles continued to prevent women in the Region from access to full health and development.

Prof. Ongeri's message was read by the Kenyan Assistant Minister of Health, Dr Gwacha Galgala, who illustrated the reproductive health challenges facing the Region with references to the low contraceptive prevalence rates in the Region, chronic disabilities resulting from pregnancy or childbirth-related injuries and infections, the unacceptably high number of women at risk from dying from pregnancy-related causes, and the insufficient numbers of skilled service providers attending to childbirths in the Region.

The Minister stated that although African countries had experienced a phenomenal improvement in manpower and infrastructural development since independence in the 1960s, access to standard care remained limited due to a variety of complex reasons, including inadequate resources, rapid population growths, and deteriorating economic environments.

Noting that investment in health in much of Africa had fallen to less than 10 per cent, and that several governments in the Region had instituted health sector reforms to make the sector more resource-efficient and more responsive to supply and demand dynamics, he called on members of the task force to suggest ways of making countries in the Region allocate more resources to the health sector in their national budgets, based on the Abuja commitment.

The Regional Reproductive Health Task Force, made up of 19 members, was set by the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Ebrahim Samba, to advise on reproductive health issues in the African Region, in a bid to reduce maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity.

Specifically, the body is charged with strengthening coordination mechanisms among key actors and partners in the area of reproductive health, and working to enhance the overall cost-effectiveness of Reproductive Health activities at the regional and national levels between WHO Member States and key partners in the African Region.

The Nairobi meeting is being attended by more that 60 delegates including Task Force members and representatives of various development agencies working in the area of reproductive health.

For further information, please contact

Dr Doyin Oluwole Director, Division of Family and Reproductive Health 
World Health Organization - Regional Office for Africa 
P.O. Box 6 Brazzaville, Congo 
Email: oluwoled [at] afro.who.int 
Tel: 1 321 953 9478; In Nairobi: Tel: (254-2) 271 79 02; 271 91 41
 Fax: (254-2) 271 91 41; 271 91 42