Decision on the Report on the Promotion of Maternal, Infant and Child Health in Africa Doc.assembly/AU/6 (XI)

DECISION ON THE REPORT ON THE PROMOTION OF MATERNAL, INFANT
AND CHILD HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA
DOC.ASSEMBLY/AU/6 (XI)

The Assembly:

1. TAKES NOTE of the Report of the Commission on the Promotion of Maternal, Infant and Child Health and Development in Africa;

2. REAFFIRMS the need to implement the Decision adopted by the Banjul Summit in 2006 on a legislation that regulates and respects social life in Africa, and URGES Member States to make contributions in this regard;

3. REAFFIRMS its commitment to intensify its leadership role and keep the Promotion of Maternal, Infant and Child Health high on the Continental agenda;

4. URGES Member States to take action to institutionalize enquiries into Maternal, Infant and Child deaths in Member States; to this effect periodic reports should be submitted to the Commission, Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and relevant partners for assessment and analysis of progress and sharing of best practices;

5. ENDORSES the nomination by the Special Session of the AU Conference of African Ministers of Health, on 17 May 2008 of Dr M. Tshabalala-Msimang, Minister of Health of the Republic of South Africa as Goodwill Ambassador to champion the Promotion of Maternal, Infant and Child Health in Africa;

6. CALLS UPON the United Nations (UN) Agencies and other International Partners to accelerate actions to improve maternal, infant and child health in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015;

7. REQUESTS the Commission to speed up action for capacity building with the view to strengthening advocacy, resource mobilization, coordination and harmonization, monitoring and evaluation of progress made in the promotion of maternal, infant and child health in Africa;

8. ALSO REQUESTS the Commission to develop and disseminate a format to guide Member States with reporting, to enable it to update its statistical data;

9. REITERATES its previous Decision, requesting the Commission in collaboration with relevant Partners, to intensify advocacy and coordination efforts towards the attainment of MDGs 4, 5, and 6 in Africa and to submit progress reports to the next ordinary session of the Assembly, in January 2009.