By RFIPosted on 18-01-2020Modified on 18-01-2020 at 23:14

In the Central African Republic, the government is tackling maternal and child mortality. Assizes were held this week to study the question. The figures are frightening: 1/3 of maternal mortality is caused by voluntary terminations of unsafe pregnancies (882 deaths of women per 100,000 births).

In the Central African Republic, non-medical abortions are the leading cause of maternal mortality. Abortion is illegal and is punishable by several years' imprisonment. Only therapeutic abortion under certain conditions is legal. Each day, six women die as a result of their pregnancy or childbirth; this is why the government launched an analysis on the situation of the health of the mother and the child to adapt its policy.

" Today the legal framework on abortion which limits it to therapeutic abortion is exceeded," says Pierre Somse, the Minister of Health. It is exceeded precisely because of the criminal nature that this law gives to the voluntary termination of pregnancy, most women hide and therefore hide to die. "

Reduce maternal mortality

For the minister, a new law is part of a set of criteria necessary to reduce maternal mortality. Among these factors: better sex education or even better access to family planning methods.

Beliefs can be a brake in some cases, but the minister calls for pragmatism: “ Here it is a question of combining idealism and realism. The government, the state, has an obligation to protect public health. And we cannot have the ambition to reduce maternal and infant mortality and hide a major cause of this infant mortality which is unsafe abortion. Idealism here should rather be placed in the sense of saving lives, in the sense of ensuring the health and well-being of women. "

A first step was the adoption by the government of the Maputo declaration last year. A text relating to the rights of women in Africa which has yet to be voted on by the National Assembly. These reflections could lead to a bill to decriminalize abortion. Its adoption in the National Assembly could allow other initiatives to be taken in this direction.

    On the same subject

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