African leaders participating in the 15th African Union (AU) Summit, which concluded on Tuesday, agreed to expand a campaign aimed at curbing maternal mortality on the continent and adopted other "key actions" in an effort to reduce infant and maternal mortality, PANA/Afrique en ligne reports.

Summit attendees agreed to extend the Campaign on Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa (CARMMA), Bience Gawanas, the AU's commissioner for social affairs, said. "The main objective of CARMMA [which was launched at the AU's health minister conference in May 2009] is to accelerate the availability and use of universally accessible quality health services which are critical for the reduction of maternal mortality, especially in countries with high rates," the news service writes.

AU leaders also decided to broaden the campaign to focus on the health of newborns, in addition to maternal health, Gawanas added.

"The lives of African women and children is the concern of everybody. This session has been a historic first in the sense that the debate strongly focused on the lives of Africa's women and children in development," Gawanas said (7/27).

"Thirteen Member States have launched [CARMMA] nationwide and eight others would do so by the end of the year. We hope that during this Summit which is being held under the theme 'Maternal, Infant and Child Health and Development in Africa,' and at the end of the deliberations which we trust will be productive, the other Member States will come on board," H.E Jean Ping, chairperson of the AU Commission, said in an address (.doc) to the executive council (7/22).

Ping said, "We want an Africa where women need not die because they are giving life," the Daily Monitor reports.

Also at the summit, African leaders renewed the 2001 Abuja Declaration, which calls on African countries to spend at least "15 per cent of their national budgets, excluding donor contributions, on health," the Daily Monitor writes, noting that "only Botswana, Rwanda, Niger, Malawi, Zambia and Burkina are currently meeting this target" (Lirri, 7/28).

Leaders also agreed "to strengthen national health systems with comprehensive maternal, newborn and child health services," PANA/Afrique en ligne reports.

"Aware of the fact that the majority of African countries would not achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the session also noted that it is important to adopt best health practices that have already been tested in some of the member states."

In addition, the summit agreement "directed the AU Commission to explore the best mechanism for African countries to access funds pledged by the recent G8 Summit" and called for countries to produce annual reports on maternal and child health to share at future AU meetings (7/27).

"The AU appealed to donors who will meet in an October 2010 meeting of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to extend the fund's support to child and maternal health," Inter Press Service reports.

Gawanas called the summit historic. She said, "[W]e have been asking about political will and leadership and there is no doubt that the AU heads of states and governments have shown the political will to promote maternal and child health on the continent."

On Monday, Ugandan First Lady Jeannette Museveni highlighted how a lack of water and sanitation results in many child deaths on the continent.

"Each day, 2,000 small Africans die from diarrhoea, while the use of toilets with all the hygiene and health conditions can reduce the mortality rate related to this disease by 90 per cent," according to a communique issued Monday on the sidelines of the summit (7/27).

Other African first ladies joined Museveni's call for "African leaders to improve access to potable water to tackle child mortality," Leadership/allAfrica.com reports. "If we do not multiply and improve our efforts, if we do not recognise the integrated nature of Africa's development, by improving the health of our children and our mothers, they will be extremely challenged," Museveni said on behalf of the first ladies (7/27).

Source: Kaiser Foundation, 28 July 2010