positioning womens and childrens health in african union policy-making a policy analysis定位非洲联盟妇幼卫生政策制定的政策分析.pdfVIP

Toure et al. Globalization and Health 2012, 8:3 /content/8/1/3 RESEARCH Open Access Positioning women’s and children’s health in African union policy-making: a policy analysis 1* 2 1 3 3 4 Kadidiatou Toure , Rotimi Sankore , Shyama Kuruvilla , Elisa Scolaro , Flavia Bustreo and Babatunde Osotimehin Abstract Background: With limited time to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, progress towards improving women’s and children’s health needs to be accelerated. With Africa accounting for over half of the world’s maternal and child deaths, the African Union (AU) has a critical role in prioritizing related policies and catalysing required investments and action. In this paper, the authors assess the evolution of African Union policies related to women’s and children’s health, and analyze how these policies are prioritized and framed. Methods: The main method used in this policy analysis was a document review of all African Union policies developed from 1963 to 2010, focusing specifically on policies that explicitly mention health. The findings from this document review were discussed with key actors to identify policy implications. Results: With over 220 policies in total, peace and security is the most common AU policy topic. Social affairs and other development issues became more prominent in the 1990s. The number of policies that mentioned health rose steadily over the years (with 1 policy mentioning health in 1963 to 7 in 2010). This change was catalysed by factors such as: a favourable shift in AU priorities and systems towards development issues, spurred by the transition from the Organization of African Unity to the African Union; the mandate of the