The Center for Health Human Rights and Development is among the Organizations under EQUINET; the Regional Network on Equity in Health in East and Southern Africa, which is a network of professionals, civil society members, policy makers, state officials and others within the region who have come together as an equity catalyst, to promote and realise shared values of equity and social justice in health.
Please find the EQUINET latest Newsletter HERE.
The Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD) working through the Coalition to Stop Maternal Mortality due to Unsafe Abortion (CSMMUA) hosted their counterparts from Tanzania; the Coalition to Address Maternal Mortality and Morbidity due to Unsafe Abortion and its Complications (CAMMAC) at Metropole Hotel in Kampala. The meeting aimed at acquainting the two institutions with the work done while addressing issues of morbidity and mortality deaths due to unsafe abortion in the respective countries.
The discussions ranged from sharing an overview of CSMMUA’s constitution, strategic objectives, challenges, and next steps; the key advocacy opportunities and process to leverage identified included: the EAC SRHR Bill, Constitutional Petition No. 10 of 2017, Miscellaneous Application No.309/2016, Reinstatement of the S&Gs and The Global Gag Rule, among others.
The CAMMAC team was given the opportunity to share key achievements, challenges they face and lessons learnt since the coalition’s inception in 2014. This was an opportunity for the Ugandan team to learn best practices that can be adopted in carrying out advocacy.
In Uganda, unsafe abortion was found to be the second and in some cases the highest contributor to preventable maternal mortality in Uganda (MoH, 2012) . An estimated 314,304 Ugandan women risked their life and health by in- ducing an abortion, a 7% increase in the 2003 estimate of 294,000 – meaning that more than 1 in 10 pregnancies end in abortion.
By Mr. David Kabanda.
Tobacco is a leading cause of preventable death globally. After realizing this ‘pandemic’, the World Health Organization adopted the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) treaty on May 21, 2003.This became one of the most quickly ratified treaties in the United Nations history. The FCTC seeks to “protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke” by enacting a set of universal standards stating the dangers of tobacco and limiting its use in all forms worldwide.The treaty’s provisions include rules that govern the production, sale, distribution, advertisement and taxation of tobacco. FCTC standards are, however, minimum requirements, and signatories are encouraged to be even more stringent in regulating tobacco.
Kenya signed and ratified this treaty in 2004, and the guidelines for the implementation of the convention, while Uganda signed the same in 2004 but ratified it in 2007.
Tobacco use is associated with increased risk of several cancers. It is the single most preventable cause of death in the world. Tobacco smoking caused an estimated 27 per cent of all cancer deaths in 2015. Active smoking and environmental tobacco smoke cause 19 per cent of all cancer cases each year.
In 2015, British American Tobacco’s Kenyan subsidiary filed a High court civil suit claiming that Kenya’s Tobacco Control regulations were unconstitutional. The court ruled in favour of health, and the tobacco industry appealed. On appeal, again court ruled against the tobacco company; it upheld nearly all elements of the regulations, which are designed to implement the Tobacco Control Act, including a two per cent annual contribution by the tobacco industry to help fund tobacco control education, research, and cessation; graphic health warnings; ingredient disclosure; smoke-free environments in public places; disclosure of annual tobacco sales and other industry disclosures; and regulations limiting interaction between the tobacco industry and public health officials.
These same provisions are in Uganda’s Tobacco Control Act of 2015.
The court of appeal in Kenya discussed at length the importance of implementing the WHO FCTC, concluding that the implementation of the convention or the guidelines was not in conflict with the Constitution or national legislation on tobacco control.
The court, while throwing out BAT’s claims, considered the overall constitutional and social context in which the allegations of violation were made. It emphasised the need to balance the rights of the petitioner against the rights of others. It considered the rights of those people who want to trade in tobacco, those who want to smoke, therefore consumers of tobacco products, and the general public exposed to tobacco products.
Every Ugandan has a right to a clean and healthy environment. This is not only provided for in the Constitution but also in the Tobacco Control Act 2015. It is also our in law that, in the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms, no person shall prejudice the fundamental or other human rights and freedoms of others or the public interest. It was also considered that BAT’s argument of being a heavy taxpayer is diluted by the fact that what it pays in taxes is cancelled out by the fact that the health sector uses up to three times the amount to mop up the negative effects of tobacco use. BAT was told to be alive to the ‘polluter pays’ principle.
BAT has not denied that tobacco products have negative effects on the consumers and on innocent persons who become passive smokers by inhaling second-hand smoke. Therefore, there are public health needs that have to be balanced against the intellectual property rights of tobacco industry.
The appellate court discussed that BAT is in a peculiar position as its products have already been associated with a multitude of serious diseases as well as posing serious health risks to the partakers of the tobacco products and the addictive nature of the products.
Because of this, the tobacco industry cannot be compared to manufacturers of other products; the state is under obligation to protect the health of its citizens, both consumers and non- consumers of tobacco.
The court concluded that the ill effects of tobacco products cannot even be equated with the threat of terrorism. This ruling sent a strong message that BAT’s legal claims are without merit and that tobacco industry interference in laws to improve public health will not be tolerated.
Sourse: http://www.observer.ug/viewpoint/52495-tobacco-s-ill-effects-surpass-terrorists-threats.html
By Dennis Jjuuko
Every society, community or group, as any person may categorise it, has values, norms and traditions that they hold dear because it is what defines them either collectively or as individuals, and this is what makes them unique. These values, norms and traditions provide the ethics and morality around the way they view life and whatever it presents for us as individuals that are part of a general society. It is important to acknowledge that there are unique processes and facts that persistently present themselves, and people must ensure they consistently find sustainable solutions to them. Among these societal dilemmas is maternal health.
The 2017 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey shows that girls engage in sexual intercourse at the age of 15.4 years on average. When many of us had our first sexual encounter, we did not consult our parents, neither did we confer with any respected people in society. Sex is kept secret and confidential and so it is in rare instances that we seek counsel before engaging in intercourse.
The number of adolescent girls in Uganda who get pregnant before attaining the age of consent has risen to 25 per cent in the last seven years. For young people, this implies unintended, unplanned and therefore unwanted pregnancies, and HIV/Aids, together with other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) .
Because teenage pregnancies are unwanted, it is not by coincidence that abortion has shot high to 14 per cent – or a rate of 39 per 1,000 women aged between 15 and 49 years, slightly higher than the East African average of 34 per 1,000 women according to the induced abortion study in Uganda. A study by the Ministry of Health estimated that eight per cent of maternal deaths were due to unsafe abortion that is done clandestinely, due to the ambiguous legal framework on abortion.
In return, Uganda spends $ 14 million on post-abortion care, yet it would spend far less if the law allowed for safe abortion services.
Ugandans, let us face it. Religious and Cultural sentiments have done less to uphold high standards of maternal health in Uganda. Whoever opposes the standards and guidelines for reducing maternal morbidity and mortality due to unsafe abortion, comprehensive sexuality education, and the adolescents health policy premises their arguments on religious and cultural beliefs.
Parents should guide their children by inculcating religious and cultural values, which responsibility many have chosen to ignore. They have abandoned this obligation to schools because it is where their children spend most of the time, yet schools also think this is not the contract they signed with parents.
Schools too are characterized with stigma because sexuality is treated as a no-go area, hitherto there is a lot of information that is needed for young people to face the reality and know what to do to prevent unwanted pregnancies and STIs.
Just like many years ago, media sets traits of thought and beliefs especially for the young people who are not able to discern information unless guided. There is a lot of sexual content both in print and broadcast media that children are exposed to. The government under the Ministry of Ethics and Integrity has not been able to effectively censor material aired on TV and radios, etc.
Government has also banned comprehensive sexuality education in schools, yet it would have done much in responding to the deficit created as a result of young people failing to discern the information they are exposed to on a daily basis.
Young people like experimenting, and exposure to sexual content inspires them to try out what they see on WhatsApp, Facebook, uncensored pornographic sites, TV and print media. This keeps them sexually active since the mind always commands the body to act.
Unwanted pregnancies are thus inevitable. They result in unsafe abortion since morality, inspired by religion and cultural values, has not done enough to arrest the situation, but instead stigmatizes the victims of circumstance.
Therefore, policy and legal decisions motivated by religious and cultural values are way out of sync with maternal health realities on the ground. There is need to bank on science and research to confront the public health phenomenon of unsafe abortion that continues to claim lives of young girls and women. Preventive measures of availing adequate and relevant information about sexual and reproductive health, and attempts to prevent unwanted pregnancies will help save the situation.
Without this, we shall continue being morally ‘unique’ with approximately 860 girls and young women carrying out unsafe abortion daily. It is immoral to lose 20 young girls and women daily to preventable causes like unsafe abortion.
Mr Jjuuko is a researcher at the Centre for Health, Human Rights and Development.
http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Commentary/Policies-maternal-health–cultural-values/689364-3880744-joob8kz/index.html.
The Center For Health, Human Rights and Development is re-advertising the VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT below:
Title: National Consultant on HIV and Law – Capacity Development
Duration: 90 days
Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda with travels to Gomba and Mukono districts
ABOUT CEHURD
The Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD) is an indigenous, non-profit, research and advocacy organization which is pioneering the enforcement of human rights and the justiciability of the right to health in Eastern Africa. CEHURD focuses its efforts on critical issues of human rights and health systems in East Africa such as sexual and reproductive health rights, trade and health, and medical ethics which affect the vulnerable and less-advantaged populations such as women, children, orphans, sexual minorities, people living with HIV/AIDS, persons with disabilities, internally-displaced persons, refugee populations and victims of violence, torture, disasters and conflict.
BACKGROUND AND THE CONSULTANCY
CEHURD is implementing a sub-regional HIV/AIDS and adolescent girls and young women Program, with a focus on prevention of new infections. The first Phase of the Program is aimed at improving the quality of, and access to, HIV-related services for adolescent girls and young women in Uganda through the use of Legal Empowerment / Social Accountability+ (LE/SA+) strategies. Subsequent phases will be added, subject to available funding.
CEHURD seeks a National Consultant for HIV and Law, with a strong interest and passion for the Organization’s mission. Under direct supervision of the Executive Director of CEHURD, the National Consultant will perform the following duties and produce the following deliverables at the national level and in the Gomba and Mukono districts in Uganda:
The Consultant is expected to undertake the work from 8 May 2017 – 30 June 2018.
IDEAL CANDIDATE PROFILE
Education and Experience
Languages
Specific knowledge, skills and competencies
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
The National Trainer for HIV will be based in Kampala with travel to Gomba and Mukono districts. The selected candidate is expected to start immediately.
For this consultancy, the ideal candidate will be offered a rate of USD150 per day subject to taxes and in accordance with qualifications and experience.
HOW TO APPLY
All interested applicants are encouraged to apply sending resume and cover letter to info@cehurd.org specifying ‘Application to National Consultant on HIV and Law – Capacity Development’ position in the title of the email.
DISCLAIMER AND CLOSING DATE
The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of the work being performed by the Consultant assigned to this work.
CEHURD reserves the right to amend and change responsibilities or even to cancel the recruitment to meet business and organizational needs as necessary.
Application deadline: April 28, 2017 (23:59hrs Uganda time).
To learn more about CEHURD, please visit our website www.cehurd.org
