Posted on: Fri 17-07-2020

A philanthropist, Melinda Gates, has called on Nigeria and other African countries to make maternal and reproductive health care an essential service.

Gates made this known in a newly launched paper titled, ‘The Pandemic’s Toll on Women and Girls,’ detailing how the COVID-19 pandemic had exploited pre-existing inequalities and drastically impacted women’s lives and livelihoods.

She stated that for the world to fully recover from the pandemic, African leaders must respond differently to the ways COVID-19 affected men and women. Gates said, “In Africa, for example, women account for around 40 per cent of COVID-19 cases. However, African women and girls are disproportionately affected by reduced access to health care services and are at greater risk of gender-based violence.”

Source: Punch

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