The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga has called for capacity building for policy makers so that they can play their rightful roles of leadership and stewardship for reproductive health and family planning programmes in Africa.
Kadaga was opening the Network of Africa Parliamentary Committees of Health (NEAPACOH) Meeting on Tuesday, 30th October 2018, under the theme “Building the capacity of African policy makers for improved reproductive health and family planning outcomes in the region: challenges and opportunities.”
"This is an opportunity to ask ourselves as parliamentarians in Africa whether we have been monitoring health especially during the decade of the African Woman. How have we handled maternal mortality? Do we have enough health facilities? Do we have sufficient health workers? Where do we stand on violence against women and girls and how we are protecting our girls in the different countries?” she asked.
Kadaga added that the enactment of the National Health Insurance Bill should be fast tracked.“Governments need to fulfill the commitments they make so as to deliver a better Africa and a better world for the benefit of the people we serve,” she said.
The Country Representative of the United Nations Population Fund, Alain Sibenaler, applauded the legislators for fostering a conducive sexual reproductive health policy in Uganda.
“The conducive policy in Uganda has led to the formulation of a national sexuality network and despite being sensitive, there is a dialogue and issues are being addressed. MPs have been very instrumental in monitoring the family planning budget, prevention of teenage pregnancy and in curbing female genital mutilation,” he said.
The NEAPACOH meeting will run from 30th to 31st October 2018 at the Speke Resort Munyonyo. Countries in attendance include Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Ghana, Gambia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Niger, USA, United Kingdom, Senegal, Seychelles, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Uganda.
