KAMPALA ROUND-TABLE MEETING TO EXAMINE PROGRESS BY NATIONS IN REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE
Press Release
POP/671
KAMPALA ROUND-TABLE MEETING TO EXAMINE PROGRESS BY NATIONS IN REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE
19980617 (Reissued as received.)NEW YORK, 17 June (UNFPA) -- The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will convene an international round-table meeting from 22 to 25 June in Kampala, to discuss progress made since the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo in ensuring reproductive rights, especially for women, and in implementing sexual and reproductive health programmes.
The round-table meeting at the Nile Hotel, Kampala, hosted by the Ugandan Government, is entitled the "Expert Round-table Meeting on Ensuring Reproductive Rights, and Implementing Sexual and Reproductive Health Programmes, Including Women's Empowerment, Male Involvement and Human Rights". It will review the progress, programme experiences and policy changes made by countries in achieving the goals of ICPD, identify successes and constraints, and plan future actions to accelerate progress at the national level.
UNFPA will provide daily coverage of the meeting on the Worldwide Web at www.unfpa.org.
The ICPD Platform of Action identified reproductive rights and sexual and reproductive health as a way to contribute to human and social development. It called for civil society, including non-government organizations (NGOs), to have prominent roles, rights and responsibilities in designing and implementing reproductive health policies. It also called for national governments, bilateral and multilateral donors to make substantial budget reallocation to make this possible.
The round-table meeting will be attended by government representatives and NGOs from developing and developed countries, foundations, experts on reproductive rights and health, academic and research institutions and United Nations agencies.
After opening ceremonies and addresses by Dr. Specioza Wandira-Kazibwe, Vice-President of Uganda, and by Dr. Nafis Sadik, UNFPA Executive Director,
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the four-day meeting will be broken into sessions devoted to particular topics: Policies for Sexual and Reproductive Health (Monday, 22 June); Designing Quality Sexual and Reproductive Health Services (Tuesday 23 June); Accessibility (Wednesday, 24 June); and Creating Necessary Conditions for Implementing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (Thursday, 25 June).
The round-table meeting will also feature panel presentations on a wide array of related subjects, among them: ICPD, five years later; developing a sexual and reproductive health policy; implementing and monitoring feasible standards of care; broadening the constellation of services within existing systems; reducing maternal mortality; female genital mutilation; violence against women: the role of the health and education sectors; key issues in improving access to sexual and reproductive health services; reproductive health as a human right; legislating and implementing reproductive rights. On Thursday, June 25, a final plenary session will discuss key future actions.
The round table on reproductive rights and implementing sexual and reproductive health programmes, is the second in a series of international events that are part of the ICPD+5 process which consist of activities connected with a five-year review of progress made in implementing the 1994 ICPD Programme of Action and to make recommendations for the future.
As part of the ICPD+5 process, UNFPA is sponsoring a series of events including technical meetings and round-table discussions on selected subjects as well as an International Forum on ICPD implementation to be held in February 1999 in the Netherlands. The first round-table meeting on adolescent reproductive and sexual health needs and in reducing levels of teenage pregnancy, was held from 14 to 17 April in New York.
The ICPD+5 process will conclude with a special session of the General Assembly from 30 June to 2 July 1999, which will review and appraise the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action.
The report of the round-table meeting on reproductive rights, and sexual and reproductive health programmes will be consolidated, along with reports from other round tables and technical meetings, into a report for review by the International Forum and as background document for the Secretary-General's report to the Assembly special session.
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