News

IPPF-AR in collaboration with AFIDEP hosted a meeting in Nairobi last week Aug 31-Sept 2, 2011 to discuss research evidence on trends in maternal health and family planning in East, Southern and West Africa sub-regions.

The meeting also discussed evidence on the factors that are driving better progress in African countries performing relatively well on MDG 5, which seeks to reduce maternal deaths by 75% and ensure universal access to reproductive health services by 2015.

The research evidence discussed at the meeting was generated by AFIDEP through rigorous analyses of existing data on maternal health and family planning for sub-Saharan Africa to document the trends, and a review of policies and other publications to discern the factors that were responsible for success in countries found to be performing well.

The sub-regional study reports and policy briefs for Eastern Africa, Southern Africa and Western Africa will be published here in the coming one month.

The meeting was attended by the senior representatives of the three Regional Economic Communities ““ the East African Community, Economic Community of West African States, and the Southern Africa Development Community, Members of Parliament from the East African Community Assembly and several African countries, and representatives of national, regional and international civil society organisations.