The World Health Organisation observes that out of more than 56 million cases of abortions that take place globally each year, almost half of the cases are done through unsafe procedures.
It notes further that between 2010 and 2014, there were 55.7 million abortion cases every year and out of these, 17.1 million cases were unsafe.
Disturbed by the high incidence of maternal and child mortality, nine countries – Bangladesh, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda – have committed to halving preventable deaths of pregnant women and newborns in their health facilities within the next five years.
African Heads of State have pledged to increase investment in immunisation coverage on the continent.
The leaders made the commitment at the 28th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, are to increase their country’s political and financial investments in vaccination programmes .
The World Health Organisation Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, noted that while immunisation coverage has improved over the last 15 years , the progress has stagnated in many countries.
