The East African Community addresses the reproductive health issues among other broader health policy matters through its mandate derived from Article118 for the establishment of the East African Community that provides for stronger regional cooperation on health related matters.
In the Reporting year 2017/18, the EAC partner states registered tremendous progress towards eliminating preventable maternal, newborn, adolescent and child deaths as well as assuring Universal Health Coverage to its citizens. Major progress was made in several areas, including reducing Maternal and Child mortalities by 50% since 2010 as well as addressing HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. This has been attributed to strong political will, investment in strong health systems that prioritize babies born in the poorest and marginalized areas and significant improvement in the general immunization status of children.
However, despite the notable progress, it is slow and the decline is not fast enough to reduce Maternal and Child Mortalities among the EAC Partner Sates. The current Maternal Mortality Rates are still unacceptably high among EAC partner States (three times higher the recommended SDG Target of less than 70 MMR per 100,000 live birth) and Neonatal mortality rates over the years still remained high above the SDG target of lower than 12 per 1000 live births (SDG 3.2). The region is affected by high level of malnutrition, under-five stunting, high adolescent birth rates and Mortalities. HIV&AIDS remains a big Health problem claiming hundred thousands of East Africans every year.
Health service delivery is confronted with a number of challenges and bottlenecks and these have to be immediately addressed to ensure survival of the Mother and the Child. These relate to limited health financing; Health Legislation and Policy, Health Systems setbacks and social cultural factors including early marriages, Sexual based violence with negative health consequences of the mother.
