Joyce Mukucha and Melissa Makoto
THE United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) recently launched the state of the world report that assesses women’s access to contraceptives and antenatal care. The report, themed “Worlds Apart: Reproductive Health and Rights in an age of inequality” is designed to review the state of the world population in 2017, particularly in developing countries where the poorest women have the least power to decide whether, when or how often to become pregnant.

Poor women, the report highlighted, have the least access to quality care during pregnancy and childbirth. Speaking during the recent launch of the report, UNFPA Zimbabwe assistant representative Ms Abigail Msemburi said lack of access to such key reproductive care often resulted in serious lifelong risks to affected women.

“The unmet demand for family planning in developing countries, for example, is generally greatest among women in the poorest 20 percent of households without access to contraception, poor women in rural areas are at heightened risk of unintended pregnancy,” she said.

“This may result in health risk and life-long economic repercussions, the lack of power to decide whether, when or how often to become pregnant can limit education, delays entry into the paid labour force and reduce earnings.” Ms Msemburi said there was need to unlearn the view that women were inferior to their male counterparts.

“In some parts of the world, a man and a woman having a same kind of job are earning different wages; the gender wage gap is 23 percent whereby every $1 a male is earning a female is earning $0,77,” said Ms Msemburi. UNFPA Zimbabwe deputy representative Mr Yu Yu said Zimbabwe was showing great potential in addressing some of the challenges.

“The Government and citizens of Zimbabwe are very energetic and they are giving support in the development of the nation. In Zimbabwe, we saw reduction of HIV from the last five years and I urge the young people to invest in their rights. They deserve to be in school; there is need to join hands and address the inequalities that diminish the economic growth,” he said. Mr Yu noted that there were still concerns, particularly in the number of women dying while giving birth.

Statistics indicate that maternal mortality rate was at 960-100 000 in 2010, but came down to 651-100 000 in 2015. UNFPA promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. It also supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free from HIV and Aids, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect .

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