WORLD BANK DECLARES STRONG SUPPORT FOR REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICES, WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT
Press Release
POP/702
WORLD BANK DECLARES STRONG SUPPORT FOR REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICES, WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT
19990211 THE HAGUE, 10 February (UNFPA) -- The World Bank is streamlining its administrative procedures and lending instruments to enable it to respond more effectively to the rapidly changing global economic environment and help promote reproductive health, Vinod Thomas, Director of its Economic Development Institute, said today.Speaking as the Hague Forum continued discussing the implementation of the Programme of Action of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, Mr. Thomas said the Bank will continue supporting high-quality reproductive health services and empower women through education and other initiatives.
Statements were made at the forum by other international organizations, States and observer delegations. The Main Committee continued its discussions on the themes gender equality, equity and empowerment of women; and reproductive health, including family planning and sexual health and reproductive rights.
Organized by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Hague Forum is part of ICPD+5, a series of review activities leading up to a high-level special session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York from 30 June to 2 July. The meeting -- officially the International Forum for the Operational Review and Appraisal of the Implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development -- is examining countries' achievements in carrying out the Cairo agreement, identifying constraints to be overcome and priorities in further implementation efforts.
In order to help nations address their population and reproductive health concerns, Mr. Thomas said, the Bank is working with borrower countries and other partners to implement the agreements of Cairo. That is being done by linking population to its core agenda of poverty reduction and human development and by ensuring that services and information address a broader range of reproductive health needs.
The empowerment of women is crucial to all aspects of population and reproductive health, he continued. Coordinated support for reproductive
health, girls' education and access to income-generating opportunities and employment for women will yield longer-term gains in the welfare of individuals, families and communities.
Recognizing those facts, he said, the Bank has extended some $2 billion in loans and credits to population and reproductive health initiatives since 1994. Even more has been provided for child survival, girls' education and the empowerment of women, with the social sector now accounting for one fifth of overall Bank lending, he said. In many countries, he continued, the Bank is working with other donors to mobilize a larger pool of loans and grants to support population and reproductive health programmes.
Furthermore, Mr. Thomas said, the World Bank is addressing the constraints that make health and education systems unresponsive to the needs of the poor. Improving the performance of health systems is crucial to such initiatives as safe motherhood campaigns, which require effective referrals in emergencies to save women's lives.
Mr. Thomas said the shift engendered by the Cairo conference had coincided with the institution's move towards greater emphasis on social development and on balancing its goals of poverty reduction with traditional concerns about public finance and macroeconomics.
The Secretary-General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, George Weber, said a growing number of the Federation's 175 member national societies have been inspired by the Cairo conference. The International Federation has been involved with reproductive health in emergencies since 1996 when, in collaboration with UNFPA, it inaugurated a project in Central Africa's Great Lakes region to address the needs of refugee women, adolescents and men.
The programme was tried in Afghanistan to help the local Red Crescent Society maintain its community health clinics, which are virtually the only functioning public health facilities there. Those collaborations led to last year's signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two organizations to promote a holistic approach to girls' and women's health, provide reproductive health information to the young, combat sexual violence and assist the victims of man-made or natural catastrophes.
Hassan Abu-Libdeh, President of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, expressed the Palestinian Authority's commitment to the ICPD Programme of Action. He said the promotion of women's health, including reproductive health, has been a central theme of the Palestinian Health and Development Plan. Further, a Women's Health and Development Department has been set up in the Ministry of Health to monitor implementation of reproductive health policies and coordinate programmes supported by donors and United Nations agencies.
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Mr. Abu-Libdeh said the Authority has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and made legal changes to promote the status of women and increase their participation in decision-making. Women's departments, he said, have been set up in all ministries to ensure that gender concerns are blended into development.
However, he cautioned, the Palestinian Authority's commitment to the ICPD is being hampered by Israeli restrictions on the movement of persons and goods between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, on employment and on trade in Palestinian goods. This adds to the prevailing socio-cultural barriers to women's empowerment and the lack of technical and human resource capabilities of Palestinian institutions.
Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup, Bhutan's Minister for Health and Education, said that addressing the rapid population growth threatening his country's environment is a Government priority. Since Cairo, efforts have been intensified in reproductive health to keep Bhutan's growth rate at 2 per cent or less and to reduce maternal mortality. All Bhutanese have equal rights in education, social services and the ownership of property, he added. They are guaranteed the right to decide the number of children they will have and are given free contraceptives of their choice.
Since the Government recognizes the right of women and their potential to contribute to development, he said, there is no discrimination against them. Legal actions have been taken to raise the legal age of marriage from 16 to 18 years, to introduce marriage certificates and to pass a rape law that would jail culprits for life.
More than ever before, the international community should help Indonesia pursue the goals of Cairo, said Ida Bagus Oka, the country's State Minister for Population. Such help is crucial because Indonesia has been hit by an economic crisis that hampers its effort to provide reproductive health services. The crisis has also led to job losses, price increases and a drop in the purchasing power of families. Despite those circumstances, Indonesia will not postpone its implementation of the ICPD Programme, since that would have a severe impact on its social and economic development.
Tran Thi Trung Chien, Minister for Population of Viet Nam, said her country's 78 million population could rise to some 81 million next year while the nation could reach replacement fertility level by the year 2005. And, in its commitment to gender equality and women's empowerment, the Government is implementing a National Plan of Action for the Advancement of Viet Namese Women. Currently, women occupy more than 26 per cent of the seats in the 1997-2001 National Assembly, and constitute 70 per cent of education workers and 60 per cent of health staff. The country's Law of Marriage and Family will be amended to strengthen men's obligations in child rearing, she said.
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Total central Government spending on the national population and family planning programme was increased seven times in recent years to about $36 million in 1996, she said. The action was taken to address unmet needs for family planning; to reduce high rates of abortion and improve maternal and child health care; and to deal with adolescent reproductive health, including teenage pregnancy, abortions and HIV/AIDS. Although local governments and communities, too, give substantial resources to the programme, Viet Nam still requires $150 million more for contraceptives alone, including condoms, up to the year 2007.
Elijah Sumbeywo, Kenya's Assistant Minister for Planning and National Development, said that, since Cairo, the country has drafted a national population policy paper which is being reviewed before it goes to parliament. The Government has introduced national strategies for information and communication; for reproductive health; and a national plan of action to eradicate female genital mutilation and other harmful traditional practices.
Kenya's Government has oriented its population activities to focus on reproductive health and family planning, he said, while it is at the same time training personnel to deliver such services. Those efforts have produced achievements in reproductive health, an increase in the contraceptive prevalence rate and a drop in population growth and fertility rates. However, he said, infant and child mortality have increased and must be addressed.
Sodov Sonin, Mongolia's Minister for Health and Social Welfare, said that 70 per cent of the students in his country's higher educational institutions are female and that the State recognizes equal rights for women. Since 1994, the Government has approved a population policy and adopted several programmes to promote health and education. One of them is the National Programme on Reproductive Health, while other programmes serve adolescents and deal with sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS.
Even though the Government recently started involving non-governmental organizations in its work in reproductive health and plans to include the private sector, he said that Mongolia still lacks the human and financial resources to satisfactorily implement the ICPD Programme of Action. The country also needs dramatic changes in mindset and in terms of capacity-building, given its ongoing socio-economic transition.
Also on Tuesday, the forum's Main Committee continued to discuss substantive themes. On Wednesday it will continue to discuss reproductive health, including family planning and sexual health, and reproductive rights; and will begin discussions on strengthening partnerships.
Findings will be summarized in a Forum Report, and presented to the Commission on Population and Development when it meets from 24 to 31 March as the preparatory committee for the General Assembly special session. The
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Commission will consider a draft report from the Secretary-General including recommendations for further action. The General Assembly has agreed that there will be no renegotiation of the ICPD agreements.
For more information contact, in the Hague: Corrie Shanahan (e-mail: shanahan@unfpa.org), Abubakar Dungus (e-mail: dungus@unfpa.org), William A. Ryan (e-mail: ryan@unfpa.org); telephone: +31-70-306-5716; fax: +31-70-306- 5737. In New York: Brian Kelly (e-mail: kelly@unfpa.org); telephone: (212) 297-5023; fax: (212) 557-6416.
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