MORE ASSISTANCE NEEDED FOR REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH PROGRAMMES, DEVELOPING COUNTRIES TELL HAGUE FORUM
Press Release
POP/703
MORE ASSISTANCE NEEDED FOR REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH PROGRAMMES, DEVELOPING COUNTRIES TELL HAGUE FORUM
19990211 THE HAGUE, 11 February (UNFPA) -- Developing countries are taking important steps to promote reproductive health and gender equality, as called for by the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, but require more assistance from richer nations to implement their programmes, many speakers at The Hague Forum said Wednesday.Some 70 delegations addressed the general debate on the third day of the forum, convened to review implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action. The Main Committee continued its discussions on the themes reproductive health, including family planning and sexual health and reproductive rights; and began discussions on strengthening partnerships. On Thursday, the committee will discuss resource flows and financing for implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action.
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 a debate held in morning and afternoon sessions, representatives of governments from all regions of the world -- developing countries and countries in transition as well as donor nations -- spoke of their post-Cairo experiences and proposed actions to add momentum to the ICPD implementation process. International, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) also took part in the general debate. Several representatives of NGOs called for more transparency in the use of resources and policy formulation.
For example, Gina Hounglee of the Pacific NGO Coalition said that, given the current economic crisis which will reduce donor contributions, Pacific governments must fulfil their post-Cairo obligations by allocating more of their national budgets to ICPD implementation. There should be clearly defined mechanisms to ensure accountability in disbursing aid funds to NGOs,
she added. Civil society groups should be included as partners in decision-making.
Leo Smith, Fiji's Minister of Health, said his country was concerned with population matters even though it has just 800,000 people. Fiji, he said, seeks to limit growth to a level compatible with a sustained improvement in living standards and to equip the population with skills that will meet the demands of an expanding economy.
Since Cairo, Mr. Smith said, Fiji has adopted an integrated approach to reproductive health and has adopted policies to raise the status of women. Key issues include the high prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV/AIDS; the low participation of men in the use of family planning methods, and poor rural access to reproductive health services. The Government has introduced family life and sexual health education into schools. In the next five years, it plans to set up clinics to provide adolescents with counselling and family planning services, and to strengthen peer education networks.
Masao Ueda, Palau's Minister of Health said his country has promoted women's rights and empowerment by barring discrimination on the basis of sex and working with women's organizations.
The representative of the Holy See, Monsignor Frank J. Dewane, spoke of "the moral dimension of human rights". The ICPD, he said, rejects all forms of coercion, recognizes the family as the basis of society and supports raising the status of women. The Holy See continues to insist that the human being should be at the centre of development and that the dignity of the human being should be respected.
Funds are disproportionately allocated to reproductive health compared to education, he said, calling for the integration of sexual and reproductive health into a broader context. The role of the family as the basic unit of society, founded on marriage, should be supported, and it should serve as the context of sexual expression by men and women. States should not seek to override the rights and duties of parents in relation to educating young people about sexuality, he added.
Recalling that the ICPD Programme of Action states that abortion should not be promoted as a method of family planning, he condemned both "emergency contraception" and the RU-486 pill as "abortive practices" camouflaged as means of family planning. There must not be a surreptitious recognition of a right to abortion through policies that create new categories of "personal rights" or include health services aimed at making possible "safe abortion".
A similar view was expressed by Majid Katme, of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children. He described abortion as murder and argued
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that there is no such thing as safe abortion. Muslims support reproductive health and rights, Mr. Katme said, as long as they do not lead to abortion, homosexuality and promiscuity.
Mr. Ekon, President of the Central Council of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) said the prevalence of high-risk abortions amounts to one of the world's gravest injustices. IPPF does not promote abortions, he said, but believes efforts must be made to prevent women from dying from unsafe abortions.
Kus Hardjanti, a health specialist with the Asian Development Bank, said that many successful national programmes in her region have reduced fertility rates. Despite those successes, 60 per cent of the world's population growth in the 1990s took place in Asia, and 43 per cent of the 600,000 women who die from pregnancy-related complications yearly are in South Asia.
The Bank recognizes the critical importance of enabling couples to determine their family size according to accepted cultural and ethical norms, while respecting freedom of choice, she said. It has helped member countries with loans and grants for projects in family planning, mother and child health, population, safe motherhood, women's health and reproductive health care since 1978. During the current economic crisis, the Bank has provided Thailand and Indonesia with loans to protect support for the poor, prevent HIV/AIDS and promote maternal and child health, nutrition and education.
Ibrahim Hussain Zaki, Maldives's Minister for Planning and National Development, said the world must address the wide disparity between nations' consumption and resource use. Noting that many developing countries are facing decreasing levels of foreign assistance, he expressed regret that many advanced countries have not met the internationally agreed target of 0.7 per cent of their gross national product (GNP) for official development assistance (ODA).
Speaking for the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Chris Ugokwe, Chairman of the African Population Commission, said both African countries and the international community should allocate more resources and exert more effort to implement the ICPD Programme of Action.
In Africa, he said, many countries have revised their population and development policies and are focusing on reproductive health and gender issues. Many States realize that population can be addressed only by combating poverty, involving local communities, improving maternal and child health and raising the status of women. Consequently, they have improved the integration of family planning with other reproductive health services, set up institutions on gender and helped reduce female genital mutilation.
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Maurice Bucagu of Rwanda's National Population Office reminded the Forum that the ICPD was held immediately after the genocide of more than 1 million Rwandans. More than 3 million people returned from exile in 1996 and have since been repatriated. He also said that following the widespread sexual violence during the conflict, the Government had undertaken legal reforms to eradicate discrimination against women and policies to promote women's economic empowerment and establish grass-roots women's organizations. Rwanda has also initiated programmes for the education and sexual health of youth, he added.
Despite the sanctions imposed on Nigeria, it has made progress in implementing the ICPD Programme of Action in the past few years, said Abubakar Ali-Gombe, Minister of State for Health. The total fertility rate has dropped slightly, to 5.8 children per woman. But infant and maternal mortality rates have remained high. Access to knowledge of contraceptives has not improved significantly, he added.
Nigeria has crafted a plan -- Vision 2010 -- which includes targets for reducing infant and child mortality, raising life expectancy, reducing adult illiteracy and increasing per capita income to $823 by the year 2005, he continued. A Ministry of Women's Affairs and Welfare has been set up to ensure the empowerment of women. The Government accords high priority to AIDS prevention, he added.
"Globalization should not be pursued at the expense of humans, rather, it should be a vehicle for human development", said Mekonnen Manyazewal, Ethiopia's Vice-Minister for Economic Development and Cooperation. His country has developed new policies on population, women and the environment, he said. Resources for education, health and water have been increased, with reproductive health being placed in the wider context of primary health care and offered to adolescents and men, in addition to women. Men are reached in their places of work.
Prevention of HIV/AIDS must become a top priority for global response, said George Foulkes, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Cooperation of the United Kingdom. The spread of AIDS should be prevented by providing information that is powerful enough to change behaviour, by distributing condoms, by treating sexual infections and by using safe blood. Young people, who are especially vulnerable to AIDS, he said, should become another priority; they should be helped to make wise decisions, without coercion from others, about when to commence sexual activity. They need access to services and information to protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy.
"We need to make contraceptives and condoms as easy to get hold of in the developing countries as a can of Coca-Cola?", Mr. Foulkes said.
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Maternal deaths should be reduced by investing more resources, said Ellen Margrethe Loj, Denmark's State Secretary in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Women and men's reproductive health knowledge and access to family planning should be improved. Efforts must be made to secure qualified midwives in rural areas, supported by means of transportation, supplies and equipment, and high-quality health facilities to handle emergencies.
International migration should have been given more attention at the forum said Canada's representative, Adele Dion, who expressed regret that the issue is not one of the main agenda items at The Hague.
As a donor nation, Australia's aid in the health sector has grown significantly, said Pat Duggan, its representative. The country has also increased its support for education, with a focus on improving girls' opportunities.
Education is provided free to all without discrimination, said Syria's Toufic Ismail. At the same time, population education has been blended into formal and informal education programmes, particularly since the Cairo conference, through activities carried out with UNFPA. Gender equality and the empowerment of women, he said, have received greater attention from the Government and NGOs.
Edgar Rodras, Ecuador's Minister for Health, said his country now hopes to overcome its greatest enemy -- poverty -- because of its progress in social development. A new constitution guarantees the right of individuals to determine the number of children they will have, while the Ministry of Health has issued guidelines on the provision of reproductive health services to reduce maternal mortality, among other things. There was also a new law to combat violence against women.
Cuba's representative, Juan Carlos Alfonso, Director of the Centre for Population Studies, called on developed countries to provide more resources to help developing countries eradicate poverty and attain the goals of Cairo.
Findings from the meeting's plenary and Main Committee 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.
For further information, contact in The Hague: Corrie Shanahan, shanahan@unfpa.org, Abubakar Dungus, dungus@unfpa.org, or William A. Ryan, ryanw@unfpa.org, tel +31-70-306-5716; fax +31-70-306-5737; in New York: Brian Kelly; kelly@unfpa.org, tel. (212) 297-5023; fax (212) 557-6416.
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