PRESS BRIEFING BY UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND

"I want to listen from the heart and I want to hear what these women have to say, because everybody has value ... We may have different nations, but we all have one heart", said actress Linda Gray this morning. She was speaking at a Headquarters press conference to launch an international campaign for reproductive health care, gender, equality and empowerment throughout the world.

The campaign, called "Face to Face", will be directed by Ms. Gray and implemented by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and an alliance of European non- government organizations.

Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of UNFPA, told correspondents that the objective of Face to Face was to sensitize people to the need for universal access to reproductive health care, the empowerment of women and the need to end such harmful practices as gender discrimination and female genital mutilation. The campaign would encouraged donor countries to contribute to population assistance programmes, while encouraging developing countries to increase their resources for reproductive health programmes, including family planning.

Dr. Sadik said that Ms. Grey would be a Goodwill Ambassador for UNFPA, as well as the campaign's director. "In addition to being a wonderful actress, she is an activist and a deeply caring person", the Executive Director said. "She has been working on issues related to women and she is a very eloquent advocate."

Ms. Gray said that during her recent fact-finding trip to Nicaragua for UNFPA, she encountered many of the complex issues arising from population problems and reproductive health. "There are many things that I don't know, and I have many questions and concerns, but I know that I will have heart-felt solutions to the problems that are so rampant in our world today." She said she would be meeting with people around the world to hear their concerns about population and reproductive health, and using that information to address those concerns. Her travels would include countries in Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

"When you're face to face with these people -- not just the women, but the children and the men -- you see what is needed, and it is devastating", she said. "They need so much, and we intend to help them get there.

Asked why she had chosen to work with the UNFPA, Ms. Gray said her interest had been piqued after reading a script for a film UNFPA was producing about population issues around the world. "I became very interested and I said, What can I do to help? Can I do anything?"

UNFPA Briefing - 2 - 20 January 1998

Ms. Gray was then asked to tell more about her duties as the campaign's director. "My intention is to go to these various countries and connect with the people there", and return to tell what she had seen, Ms. Gray said. "I intend to bring that information home so that we all can unite and say what can we do to help."

Asked if she had "a pipeline" to communicate her views to the United States Congress, Ms. Gray said that she would be happy to talk to members of Congress or anyone else about the issues she was addressing.

A correspondent then asked Dr. Sadik, who was in the running to be Executive Director of the World Health Organization (WHO), what her priorities would be for that organization. She said she wanted to establish health as a development issue, and to establish the role of the WHO in a changing environment where there were many organizations involved in health. With limited resources available, she would focus the WHO's own resources in the most important priority areas. She would also examine how to turn the organization around in terms of personnel, leadership and commitment, starting from the field level -- where, she said, the WHO representatives had not been very proactive and had not been seen as health leaders. That meant having transparent personnel placement, recruitment and promotion policies. She would then look at the policies of the developing countries and create some goals for improving health care, as well as some strategies on how to achieve those goals.

A correspondent asked Ms. Gray what her views were on abortion. Dr. Sadik responded that Ms. Gray had to be guided by UNFPA's views on abortion, adding that policy makers must look at why abortions occurred. She said they occurred because the pregnancy was unwanted. Preventing unwanted pregnancies should be a priority. Also, women must be given the possibility of making decisions for themselves, and many women around the world were not able to do that. In addition, many women were exposed to sexual violence and rape, and that must be publicized.

"We must not sweep these difficult issues under the carpet, we must start to talk about them", Dr. Sadik said. Abortion cases must be counselled, and in every country there must be research on why they were taking place. In all cases, access to information and services on contraception must be provided, she said.

* *** *