1998 UNITED NATIONS POPULATION AWARD SHARED BY UGANDA HEALTH GROUP, FAMILY PLANNING PIONEER IN JAMAICA

9 July 1998

Press Release
DSG/SM/12
POP/676

1998 UNITED NATIONS POPULATION AWARD SHARED BY UGANDA HEALTH GROUP, FAMILY PLANNING PIONEER IN JAMAICA

19980709 Deputy Secretary-General Commends Community Service of Honorees

A ceremony was held at Headquarters today for the presentation of the 1998 United Nations Population Award -- to the Sabiny Elders Associations of Uganda (which has dramatically curtailed the practice of female genital mutilation in its area of operation) and to Dr. Hugh Wynter of Jamaica, a prominent leader in the Caribbean for family planning programmes. This is the text of a statement at the ceremony by Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette:

I have great pleasure in welcoming all of you to the United Nations Population Award ceremony. The Award was created by the General Assembly in 1981 to promote and raise awareness about the economic and social implications of population trends, particularly as they relate to development. It seeks to recognize outstanding contributions to the understanding of population questions and to their solutions, especially at the level of the individual and the community.

This year, the inter-governmental Committee for the United Nations Population Award has selected two commendable laureates. Their vision, judgement and dedication to improving the individual lives of women and men have had far-reaching benefits for entire communities and regions.

It thus gives me great pleasure and honour to welcome this year's laureates of the United Nations Population Award: Dr. Hugh Hastings Wynter from Jamaica; and the Sabiny Elders Association from Uganda, represented here by Chairman G.W. Cheborion of Kapchorwa, Uganda.

Dr. Wynter is regarded as one of the most creative and dedicated leaders in the field of family planning in the Caribbean. His clarity of vision and influence has helped shape the provision of family planning and reproductive health services in the entire region. Dr. Wynter holds the position of Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of the West Indies, where he is also the Director of the Advanced Training and Research in Fertility Management Programme. He also serves as Chairman of the National Family Planning Board of Jamaica.

- 2 - Press Release DSG/SM/12 POP/676 9 July 1998

Since he entered the field as an obstetrician/gynaecologist, Dr. Wynter has used both his professional and verbal skills to articulate and translate difficult concepts into practical measures aimed at linking individual choices to broader development goals. A pioneer in his field, Dr. Wynter has helped build up training facilities, institutionalize services and establish academic curricula across the Caribbean. The Advanced Training and Research in Fertility Management Programme, which was set up in 1979, has trained more than 4,000 doctors, nurses, educators and social workers, from the Caribbean and beyond, in reproductive health care. An ardent and vocal advocate for Family Life Education, Dr. Wynter has helped convince communities that sex education is a crucial component of the school curriculum; that for young people it is a right as well as a responsibility.

The Sabiny Elders Association from Uganda groups the leaders of 161 Sabiny clans living in eastern Uganda. The Association, which was set up by the elders in 1992, strives to preserve and enhance Sabiny culture. It is guided by a vision: to safeguard and develop what is beneficial, and to change or discard what is harmful.

Not long ago, the Sabiny Elders Association undertook a remarkable challenge: to break the deeply rooted tradition of female genital mutilation. Complementing the Government of Uganda's efforts to stop the practice, the Association used its significant influence to seek to convince the community that female genital mutilation is harmful -- at times fatal -- to the physical and emotional development of its women.

Working with the United Nations Population Fund, the Association spearheaded an advocacy campaign, first among conservative groups, and then among youth and the wider community, to change social attitudes about the practice. In doing so, the Association helped raise issues and questions about the role of women in the Sabiny community. The campaign is sensitive to Sabiny culture and firmly based on education, information and the health consequences of female genital mutilation. The Sabiny Elders Association has contributed to an impressive reported decline of some 36 per cent in female genital mutilation. It hopes one day to see the practice completely eliminated.

And so, Mr. Chairman, on behalf of all my colleagues in the United Nations, I extend my warmest congratulations to the laureates of the 1998 United Nations Population Award. Their work and their commitment to their communities have made a truly outstanding contribution to global problem-solving in population and development. I hope that their example will serve as an inspiration to us all.

Next June, the General Assembly will meet in a Special Session to review the implementation, five years on, of the Programme of Action adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo. It is my hope that leaders at all levels will then recommit themselves to achieving the fullest possible integration of goals and objectives in population and development over the years to come.

* *** *