"Youth unemployment rising in Africa: The case of Ghana." Source -www.shoutoutuk.org
Advocacy International advises a consortium led by OPTIONS UK on an advocacy campaign – MamaYe! – to increase maternal and newborn survival in Ghana. The MamaYe coalition in Ghana is led by Prof Adanu of the School of Public Health, and Vicky Okine of the Alliance of Reproductive Health Rights. Recently the MamaYe coalition appealed to Ghanaian MPs for an increase in spending on maternal and newborn health.
What chances are there of success for this campaign?
First, it is important to note that Ghana has halved levels of poverty since 1992. In that year, nearly 52% of Ghanaians lived in poverty. By 2006 Ghanians living in poverty had been halved to 28%, according to the World Bank.
Reframing the issue away from failure, despair and mortality – and towards solutions, success and survival.
As part of our work advising a UKAid- funded consortium whose aim is to reduce maternal and newborn mortality in five African countries, Ai had to think of ways of engaging Africa’s men and women in the complex issue of maternal and newborn health. This is an issue that requires a spectrum of care – from the time that young girls reach reproductive age right through to maturity; and from conception to well after a child is born.
Advocacy International is proud to have helped produce a new website for the African Union’s Campaign for the Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa (CARMMA).
The website promotes maternal and newborn survival, and provides evidence on progress in achieving the targets African leaders have set. Continue Reading
Sierra Leonian mother and her baby
Our director, Ann Pettifor and project manager, Georgia Lee have just returned from extended visits to Sierra Leone and Ethiopia, as part of a DFID-funded project to reduce maternal and newborn mortality. Ai is part of a consortium that includes the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University College London, IMMPACT in Aberdeen and the White Ribbon Alliance.
The gardeners are squatting low in the heat, planting and greening the pavements and sidewalks of Delhi. They are under pressure to complete, because the Commonwealth Games are imminent. Lots of talk in the papers about delays and corruption, coupled with suppressed glee at the pickle Pakistan cricketers now find themselves in. The talk in Delhi is that the Monsoon has been heavier, and more prolonged than usual, but we are enjoying the dry steamy atmosphere at the Habitat Centre, where the Global Maternal Health Conference is in full swing.
And maternal health is in the news too. Continue Reading