Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor has addressed the 10th African Conference on Sexual Health and Rights currently ongoing in Freetown, Sierra Leone from June 29 to July 1, 2022.
According to a dispatch from the Office of the Vice President, she had gone to honor an invitation from Dr. Fatima Maada Bio, First lady of Sierra Leone as keynote speaker and Grand Chief Patron at that conference.
The Vice President lamented that “Enough is Enough” and called on her male counterparts to change their mindsets and perceptions, embrace the idea of inclusion and see women as partners, arguing that women make up about 50% of the population across Africa, and an attempt to exclude women will deny the continent 50% of its human resources and potential.
The Vice President intimated that the actualization of Sexual Health and Rights would require eliminating the three most critical areas of abuse, namely Female Genital Mutilation, Child Marriage, and Gender-based Violence of both psychological and physical proportions.
Vice President Howard-Taylor proffered that the solutions to the menace of the abuse of sexual health and rights are hinged on the need for Strong Political Will to dismantle the male-dominated power hegemony and the dramatic transformation of a mindset that accepts the equality paradigm as the best way forward.
She concluded that the stories are horrendous, and any civilized society should no longer tolerate the psychological effects on the remaining 50% of the Human Race.
The Vice President shared the platform with Dr. Mohammed Juldeh Jalloh, Vice President of Sierra Leone; Dr. Babatunde A. Ahonsi, UN Resident Coordinator in Sierra Leone; Dr. Uwemedimo Esiet, Co-Founder and Director, Action Health Incorporated, amongst others.
The 10th African Conference is organized by the Purposeful Organization under the patronage of the First lady of Sierra Leone.
On the theme: “Accelerating the Elimination of Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Africa” the conference brings together more than 900 participants from about 41 countries in Africa and across the world to discuss issues of sexual health, human rights, gender-based violence and the empowerment of women and youth.
While in Freetown, the Vice President will hold discussions with President Bio and Dr. Bio and her counterpart Dr. Mohammed Juldeh Jalloh, Vice President of Sierra Leone, members of the Parliament, some officials of the government, the business community, among others.
