What has Happened in Africa since Cairo?

Abstract

This article presents data on what has happened in Africa since Cairo. On too many fronts, especially in the areas of ICPD promises, the countries and people of sub-Saharan Africa have moved backwards, or have stagnated and made no progress. The poorest African countries grew poorer, while the richest nations of the North got (much) richer; life expectancy fell; maternal mortality rates rose; skilled personnel attended fewer births; the rates of preventable and treatable communicable diseases rose; public expenditure on health stagnated; and ratios of physicians to population fell or remained the same in one-fourth of the countries. This reflected a serious brain drain. Family planning is the one service that grew in the decade since Cairo.