Legislation on maternal and children health should be enacted in all EAC member states in order to help curb child mortality and morbidity rates in the region.
The regional leaders have been urged to show political will and ensure enforcement of such laws as the region strives to realise the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The appeal was made by the Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala), Abdirahin Haithar Abdi, on Saturday while addressing Parliamentarians during a two-day seminar on improving information to secure women and children’s health and health related MDGs.
The Speaker noted that there was huge information gap on mother and children health and called on stakeholders to put the issue on their agenda.
He further remarked that information on women and children issues remained core and at the centre of development and urged the East African Inter-Parliamentary Forum on Health to double its effort in advocacy around the same.
Abdi called for more endeavour to ensure information and data collection strategies were in place.
The seminar organised by Eala, the East African Inter-Parliamentary Forum (IPF) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) attended by Eala MPs and parliamentarians from the National Assemblies of the partner states.
The meeting hopes to ensure revival of the Maternal New Born and Child Health (MNCH) activities of the IPF and update them by incorporating certain considerations from the recently adopted IPU resolution on the role of parliaments in ensuring MNCH.
It further wants to safeguard previous efforts by Eala/IPF to improve MNCH by developing an action plan for consideration by the incoming third assembly of the regional Parliament.
In his remarks, the director of programmes at IPU, Martin Chugong, said the IPU would continue to work with all Parliaments in the region.
“We hope that Parliaments would be able to access more resources, and ensure accountability so that access of health services by women and children is fully achieved,” Chugong said.
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