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Marrakech, Morocco, 17 April 2019 (CEA) – To fight inequalities in all sectors in Africa, it is necessary for the continent to eliminate disparities in access to badual and reproductive health and rights. procreation, as well as the consequences of lack of access – unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, maternal deaths – and gender-based violence, including female bad mutilation.
Robert T. Chakanda, Deputy Minister of Planning and Economy of Sierra Leone, said: The centrality of population dynamics in sustainable development held on the sidelines of the 5th African Regional Forum for Sustainable Development (ARFSD) on Wednesday.
"We also need to prevent child marriages, early and forced marriages, and provide young people, especially adolescent girls, with quality education that includes comprehensive bad education," he told participants.
Chakanda said the continent should also maximize the benefits of the demographic dividend by investing in empowering, health, education and youth employment, as well as creating opportunities and an environment conducive to innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship for young people. to access jobs and realize their full potential.
Addressing inequality also means that Africa must give young people the information and skills they need to make informed choices to help them stay healthy, free of STIs, HIV and diseases. non-transmissible; and ensure the availability and use of accurate and disaggregated data for decision making to ensure that no one is left behind.
For his part, Thokozile Ruzvidzo, Director of the Gender, Poverty and Social Policy Division of the Economic Commission for Africa, in a speech read on his behalf, said that population dynamics remain at the center of the sustainable development of Africa. Africa, as stated in the 2063 Agenda of the African Union, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as various continental, regional and national development frameworks.
She said that the results of the five-year review of the Addis Ababa Declaration on Population and Development (AADPD) of October 2018 also emphasized the crucial role that intelligence demographic and demographic dynamics play to ensure the achievement of inclusive socio-economic development, aspired prosperity, peace and wellbeing. to be on the continent.
"Continued population growth in low-income African countries, driven by high fertility, will make it harder to eradicate poverty and inequality, fight hunger and nutrition, invest in people, and Education and health, and better access to basic services, "she said.
Ms. Ruzvidzo added that development programs on the continent should be stepped up, not only to fill the current lack of services, but also to prepare for the increased demand for population growth.
"It is clear that the successes of the last few years will only be sustainable if governments tackle inequalities that hurt the poorest and most marginalized," she said.
"Laws must be adopted and enforced. budgets must be allocated to protect people affected by poverty and discrimination, including women, people with disabilities, young people and people living in rural areas. "
As African countries report on achievements, constraints, lessons learned and opportunities offered by the 2019 National Voluntary Review (EVN), the side event also allowed participants to take into account implications of demographic diversity on the continent in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals.
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