Keynote address by Deputy Minister of Social Development, Dr Jean Swanson-Jacobs, on Men's involvement in maternal health, World Population Day, Lesedi Cultural Village, 11 July 2007

Chairperson,
Honourable MEC for Social Development in Gauteng, Mr Lekgoro
Representative of the House of Traditional Leaders, Inkosi Kunene
Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Mr Nsiah
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen

Allow me to firstly congratulate the United Nations Population Fund on the theme that has been chosen for this year's commemoration of World Population Day, namely Men's Involvement in Maternal Health. The choice of this theme reflects the progression of the global population and development discourse, from one about numbers, to become a critical engagement on the empowerment of women and gender relations in global development. Also, in the past we saw many population issues as women's issues, but recently we have become more aware of the role that men can play therein.

This year's theme for World Population Day should be understood as an invitation to men worldwide, and in South Africa, to become part of our struggle for gender equality. Today, we are calling on men from all walks of life to become involved in the global and national quest to improve maternal health.

It is not that population statistics are less important today than they were in the past. It is rather a matter of modifying the meaning that we attach to the statistics that we engage with, and the qualitative observations that inform our understanding of such statistics.

The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development was the first major international conference that our infant democratic country participated in. At the time, we joined the call in the conference's programme of action for special efforts to "emphasise men's shared responsibility and promote their active involvement in responsible parenthood, sexual and reproductive behaviour."

The South African government also supported the elaboration of this point five years later, at the 1999 review of the Programme of Action, to include aspects of maternal health in the ambit of men's roles and responsibilities. Specifically, it was agreed that men should assist their partners to:

* protect women's health, including supporting their partners' access to sexual and reproductive health services
* prevent unwanted pregnancy
* prevent sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV & AIDS
* promote the elimination of harmful practices, such as female genital mutilation and sexual violence.

Chairperson, the Development Indicators Mid-Term Review that was released by the Presidency last month indicated that our country's "Maternal Mortality Ratio is increasing and has more than doubled between 1998 and 2003." In 2003, 165,5 women per 100 000 died from pregnancy-related causes in South Africa. Whilst part of the statistical increase is due to improved recording of data, the trend is of great concern at a time where we only have eight years left to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, one of which is to reduce maternal mortality by 75%. In the same year, 2003, 92% of births in South Africa were delivered by a health professional, which represents a remarkable achievement in service delivery. This was made possible by the fact that today, according to the Department of Health, all South Africans live within five kilometres of a clinic.

Chairperson, the contrast between improved health services and a declining maternal health status should lead us to understand that maternal health has more dimensions to it than only clinical care. World Population Day 2007 should focus our attention on these other dimensions that mitigate against improved maternal health. They include:

* HIV & AIDS
* poor nutrition
* Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), many of which are curable
* poor education
* status of women, including unequal access to and control over resources and decision making power.

Ladies and gentlemen, you will agree with me that these issues lie at the heart of gender relations. HIV & AIDS transmission, as well as the transfer of Sexually Transmitted Infections mostly occur as a consequence of sexual relations between men and women. Not only are men and women equally responsible for their own and their partner's protection against these diseases. We also have a responsibility to allow our partners the basic right to protect themselves against the risk of infection. The fact that many women in South Africa remain vulnerable to these diseases is a consequence of persistent gender inequality, and their consequent powerlessness to negotiate safe terms of sexual engagement.

Similarly, men often also play a deciding role in the educational and economic opportunities afforded to women, and the denial of these opportunities limits women's access to information and choices of lifestyles that would assist them to protect themselves against the consequences of poor maternal health care.

Our focus today is not only on what men should not do. We should also engage on what it is that men can, and must, do to help rid our society of the hundreds of maternal deaths that occur annually. The World Population Day activities that take place across the country today and over the next few weeks should serve as the springboard from which to advocate that men have a positive contribution to make to maternal health. I believe that many men will embrace this opportunity when or if they understand the role that they can play.

We have to advocate to men, and in partnership with men, that our activism against gender-based violence has to include activism to protect ourselves and each other against HIV & AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections. We also have to advocate that the education of a girl-child, and the employment of a woman, empowers them to live longer and healthier lives, and to safe motherhood.

Chairperson, allow me to highlight the following:

* Men are important role models to other men, especially to boys, and should teach other men, including their own sons, to respect women.
* Men have a responsibility to share the joy of pregnancy with their partners, which must include ensuring that their partners have access to proper reproductive health and maternal health care, and nutrition.
* Men must speak out about HIV & AIDS and other STIs, and protect their partners against these diseases. A man who protects himself also automatically protects his partner
* Men and women have to communicate about these issues in their relationship � research has proved that couples who communicate better also have healthier sexual lives.
* Men who play leadership roles, including in the religious, traditional, employment and other spheres can make an important difference in how the general population perceives the roles and responsibilities of men.
* We especially have to work together to protect young women, especially teenagers, from unwanted or unplanned pregnancies. Teenage pregnancies not only carry a higher risk to the health of the mother, but also reduce educational and economic opportunities for young women.

Ladies and gentlemen, I hope that our activities today will only be the start of a concerted effort to unite the government and civil society at all levels in initiatives to address the social dimensions of maternal health. We have to complement the great strides that have been made to date to improve service delivery with programmes that reverse the trend in maternal mortality in our country, to bring us closer to the achievement of this very important Millennium Development Goal.

The first step to improve the shocking state of maternal health in our society must be to recognise it as a basic human right. Men must share the responsibility to break down the social barriers that prevent the realisation of this basic right. South African men and women must unite to demand the sexual and reproductive rights and freedoms that are enshrined in our constitution from each other. We cannot tolerate the denial of these rights and freedoms any longer � not by institutions or by our partners.

Chairperson and all present, let World Population Day 2007 be our call to action for the achievement of a maternal health status in our society that we can be proud of. I am confident that our deliberations today will produce concrete proposals to carry forward, together.

Thank you.