UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND WELCOMES SUPPORT FROM UNITED STATES SENATE TO RESTORE FUNDING
Press Release
POP/725
UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND WELCOMES SUPPORT FROM UNITED STATES SENATE TO RESTORE FUNDING
19990505 NEW YORK, 5 May (UNFPA) -- The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) welcomed an announcement today by United States Senator Jim Jeffords (R-VT) that he has introduced legislation to restore the United States voluntary contribution to UNFPA.Senator Jeffords was speaking with Peter Purdy, Executive Director of the United States Committee for the United Nations Population Fund, Nils Daulaire, President of the Global Health Council and Peggy Curlin, President of the Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) at a press conference in Washington today.
"We are very encouraged by this news", said Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of UNFPA. "This legislation, if passed, will help women all over the world. It will give many people in developing countries the right that Americans take for granted, the right to individual choice in regard to the size and spacing of the family."
"United States contributions to UNFPA will strengthen population programmes aimed at providing voluntary, high-quality reproductive health services, including family planning, assisted childbirth and STD [sexually transmitted diseases], HIV/AIDS prevention to women and men who would otherwise not have access to services", she said.
Last month UNFPA sent much-needed reproductive health supplies to Kosovo refugees in Albania. The supplies included equipment for the safe delivery of newborn babies and emergency contraception for rape victims.
In October of last year, the United States Congress eliminated funding to UNFPA. United States funding for UNFPA in fiscal year 1998 was $20 million. UNFPA's total resources in 1997 were $290 million.
Next week, 11 May, Dr. Sadik will be speaking at a luncheon in New York organized by "Save the Children" to increase awareness and funding for disadvantaged women and children.
The UNFPA is the largest internationally funded source of population assistance to developing countries. It assists developing countries to improve reproductive health and family planning services on the basis of individual choice, and to formulate population policies in support of efforts towards sustainable development.
For more information contact Sarah Craven, tel: (202) 326-8713 or Corrie Shanahan, tel: (212) 297-5023, e-mail: shanahan@unfpa.org
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