Nairobi, 21 October --The first meeting of the Regional Reproductive Health Task Force, an advisory body established by the Brazzaville-based WHO Regional Office for Africa (WHO/AFRO), got under way Monday in Nairobi, Kenya.

The Task Force, made up of 19 members, 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 meeting, being attended by Task Force members and representatives of various development agencies working in the area of reproductive health, is examining ways of contributing to the acceleration of the implementation of reproductive health programmes, and of coordinating relevant activities supported by partners.

The meeting will also discuss, agree and endorse the terms of reference of the Task Force; provide guidance to WHO Member States in the African Region on issues related to the implementation of reproductive health programmes; advise on programmatic directions most likely to impact positively on reproductive health delivery, and identify mechanisms and approaches for the mobilization of resources for accelerated implementation of evidence-based reproductive health interventions.

"Of all the health statistics monitored by WHO, maternal mortality is one with the highest discrepancy between developed and developing countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, one in every 13 women dies of pregnancy-related causes during her lifetime, compared with one in 4,085 women in developed countries," says Dr Doyin Oluwole, Director of AFRO's Division of Family and Reproductive Health which is organizing the meeting.

"This can and should be corrected. The technology exists to make a difference. We believe that a better appreciation of the huge losses incurred by our Region due to maternal mortality will lead to increased budgetary allocation to that sector; it should also result in the adoption of policies and legislative and other actions essential to the reduction of maternal mortality. We expect this meeting to show the way forward."

In his remarks at the opening of the meeting, the Chairman of the Task Force, Prof. O. Akande, challenged Task Force members to "produce a clear mission and pathways that would translate WHO/AFRO's mission of improved reproductive health for all Africans into reality." He added: "We must ensure that we can make a difference and be relevant in the face of daunting obstacles; we must provide the much-needed strategic orientation that would assist in translating years of talk and rhetoric to meaningful, cost-effective and sustainable action plans that would change the present bleak reproductive health situation into a brighter one."

Members of the Task Force include Prof Akande and another senior international Reproductive Health Consultant 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 Beffoud (Benin), Dr Christine Kasuda (Zambia), Prof A.M. Otubu (Nigeria) and Dr Fatma Mrisho of the UNFPA Country Support Team in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.Others 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 Meditternean 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 (Ghana), Prof. Angela Kamara ( Chairperson of the Maternal Mortality Network) and Dr Khama Rogo, the Lead Reproductive Health Specialist at the World Bank.

Also attending the meeting are Reproductive Health Experts and representatives of partner organizations including UNICEF, UNFAP, USAID, The Population Council, JHPIEGO, Advance Africa, CIDA, the Regional Commonwealth Secretariat and NORAD.

Reproductive Health is a priority health concern in the WHO African Region whose Member States, in 1997, adopted a Regional Reproductive Health Strategy for the period 1998-2007. The main thrusts of the strategy include Safe Motherhood; perinatal and neonatal care; adolescent sexual and reproductive health; prevention of mistimed and unwanted pregnancies; control of sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS; prevention, early detection and management of cervical cancer; reduction of female genital mutilation, and reduction of domestic and sexual violence. 

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