Nairobi, 25 October --The first meeting of the Regional Reproductive Health Task Force -- an expert group set up by the WHO Regional Office for Africa (AFRO) to advise it on Reproductive Health issues -- has ended In Nairobi, Kenya, with the adoption of recommendations aimed at improving access to information, services and commodities designed to promote Reproductive Health in the African Region.

In view of the magnitude of the burden of Reproductive Health problems among adolescents in the Region, the task force recommended that WHO and other development partners should support countries in strengthening the provision of appropriate adolescent information and integrated services with the participation of adolescents and parents.

They highlighted the importance of family planning in the reduction of maternal mortality and called on WHO, and other development partners to support Member States to increase resources to enhance the availability, accessibility and security of family planning commodities at country level.

Considering the fragmented and overlapping efforts by partners and agencies in Reproductive Health activities, the meeting requested WHO to consult with partners on the use of the task force as an effective coordination forum for Reproductive Health activities in the Region.

The task force also recommended that various relevant global initiatives such as the Roll Back Malaria programme, the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness and HIV/AIDS and should be incorporated within the Reproductive Health agenda with a view to contributing to the Millennium Development Goals.

Other recommendations adopted by the meeting called on WHO and other partners to:

•  assist Member States in improving the quality of their data;
• facilitate discussion among partners to share experiences and best practices, 
•  support research to identify factors responsible for the high percentage of antenatal care attendance and the low rate of skilled birth attendance in the Region, and 
•  support countries in institutional capacity building so as speed up the implementation of ratified Conventions and Declarations on Reproductive Health.

The meeting, attended by Task Force members and more than 40 representatives of various development agencies working in the area of reproductive health, examined ways of contributing to the acceleration of the implementation of reproductive health programmes, and of coordinating relevant activities supported by partners in the 46 countries that make up the African Region of WHO.

The Task Force, is made up of 19 members and 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 four-day meeting also discussed, agreed and endorsed the terms of reference of the Task Force made up of 19 members including: two senior international health consultants Prof. O. Akande and Prof. J. Kasonde, Dr Adelaide de Carvalho (Angola), Prof. Diara Nama Jeanne (Cote d'Ivoire), Dr Adama Ndoye (Senegal), Dr O.S. Chidede (Zimbabwe), Dr Maurice Bacagu (Rwanda), Dr Khaled Bessoud (Benin), Dr Christine Kasuda (Zambia), Prof A.M. Otubu (Nigeria) and Dr Fatma Mrisho of the UNFPA Country Support Team in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Dr R. Shoo of UNICEH Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa, and Dr Suzan Prysor Jones.

The other members of the expert group are are Mrs Hope Sukin of USAID, Prof. Helen Rees (South Africa), Dr Hassan S. Baa'aqeel (Chairman of the Regional Advisory Panel for the African nd Eastern Mediternean Region on Reproductive Health), Dr Justine Tantchou, President of the Reproductive Health network for Francophone countries, Madam Josephine Ouedraogo, Director of the Women Centre at the UN Economic Commission for Africa , Dr Emmanuel Tankorain representing Prof. Angela Kamara ( Chairperson of the Maternal Mortality Network) and Dr Khama Rogo, the Lead Reproductive Health Specialist at the World Bank.

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