• woodrow wilson center
  • ecsp

New Security Beat

Subscribe:
  • mail-to
  • Who We Are
  • Topics
    • Population
    • Environment
    • Security
    • Health
    • Development
  • Columns
    • China Environment Forum
    • Choke Point
    • Dot-Mom
    • Navigating the Poles
    • New Security Broadcast
    • Reading Radar
  • Multimedia
    • Water Stories (Podcast Series)
    • Backdraft (Podcast Series)
    • Tracking the Energy Titans (Interactive)
  • Films
    • Water, Conflict, and Peacebuilding (Animated Short)
    • Paving the Way (Ethiopia)
    • Broken Landscape (India)
    • Scaling the Mountain (Nepal)
    • Healthy People, Healthy Environment (Tanzania)
  • Publications
  • Events
  • Contact Us

NewSecurityBeat

The blog of the Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program
  • Dot-Mom  //  From the Wilson Center

    Linking Governance and Positive Maternal Health Outcomes in Africa

    April 11, 2013 By Derek Langford

    Sub-Saharan Africa is perhaps the riskiest place for a woman to give birth. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), African women comprise approximately 56 percent of the maternal deaths and 91 percent of HIV-related maternal deaths worldwide every year. In order to bring life into this world, women in Africa literally must put their own lives on the line.

    This is alarming, yet not surprising. For some time, African governments, healthcare professionals, and the international community have been acutely aware of the scope of this problem and its ramifications for the continent. It is well understood that healthy women give birth to, and rear, healthy children who then, in turn, are able to positively impact society. Conversely, a motherless child is 10 times more likely to die prematurely than children who grow up with a maternal figure. What is shocking, but gets very little news coverage, is that we know how to impact this situation for the better – good governance is essential for positive maternal health outcomes.

    Governance is generally understood as the means, procedures, and institutions through which a society manages its affairs. In the developing world, including in sub-Saharan Africa, government too often conducts itself as though it and it alone, has the exclusive right to manage societal affairs. This narrow approach to governance is misguided. It stifles innovation from civil society and the private sector, and is insufficient to respond to development deficits. Indeed, governance ought to be broadened to include civil society, non-profit, and private sectors so that myriad stakeholders can be empowered to develop solutions and participate fully in decision-making processes.

    Continue reading on Africa Up Close.

    Derek Langford is a program assistant for the Wilson Center’s Africa Program.

    Sources: UN, UNFPA.

    Topics: Africa, Chad, development, Dot-Mom, DRC, From the Wilson Center, gender, global health, HIV/AIDS, maternal health, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sudan, youth, Zimbabwe

Join the Conversation

  • RSS
  • subscribe
  • facebook
  • G+
  • twitter
  • iTunes
  • podomatic
  • youtube
Tweets by NewSecurityBeat

Trending Stories

  • unfccclogo1
  • Pop at COP: Population and Family Planning at the UN Climate Negotiations

Featured Media

Backdraft Podcast

play Backdraft
Podcasts

More »

What You're Saying

  • Women hauling ore in Kenieba, Mali - Jorden de Haan Building Peace by Formalizing Gold Mining in the Central Sahel
    Jorden De Haan: Thank you so much Omari! Let's continue to liaise on this stream of work and perhaps draft a similar...
  • 49890944808_c7d6dfef74_c Why Feminism Is Good for Your Health
    Melinda Cadwallader: It's not about what is "better" it is about creating balance. One without the other, Patriarchy...
  • Women hauling ore in Kenieba, Mali - Jorden de Haan Building Peace by Formalizing Gold Mining in the Central Sahel
    omari Mena: Well done!
  • woodrow
  • ecsp
  • RSS Feed
  • YouTube
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • Publications
  • Events
  • Wilson Center
  • Contact Us
  • Print Friendly Page

© Copyright 2007-2023. Environmental Change and Security Program.

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. All rights reserved.

Developed by Vico Rock Media

Environmental Change and Security Program

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center

  • One Woodrow Wilson Plaza
  • 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
  • Washington, DC 20004-3027

T 202-691-4000