RECORD NUMBER OF DONORS SUPPORT UNFPA IN 2003

RECORD NUMBER OF DONORS SUPPORT UNFPA IN 2003

(Reissued as received.)

NEW YORK, 19 December (UNFPA) –- The UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, received contributions from 142 of the 191 United Nations Member States in 2003, the largest number of donors in the Fund’s history.  The top six donors were the Netherlands, Japan, Norway, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Sweden.

“This number of supporters has surpassed our expectations”, said Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, UNFPA Executive Director.  “This is strong evidence that countries, from every region of the world, have confidence in the Fund and that there is strong political will in support of our activities.”

The number of donors more than doubled since 1999, from 69 to 142 today.  New donors in 2003 included Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Hungary, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova, Somalia, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste and Uzbekistan.  Regular resources for UNFPA in 2003 were approximately $294 million.

“UNFPA works hard to make pregnancy and childbirth safer for women in developing countries, to prevent HIV infections and to help couples plan their families and avoid unintended pregnancies”, said Ms. Obaid.  “We can now meet more of the demands for reproductive health care in the 150 countries where we work.”

Within the United Nations system, the UNFPA leads efforts to promote goals set at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), including universal access to reproductive health services for all couples and individuals by 2015.  Overall donor support still falls short of what is required to meet ICPD goals.  In 2001, international assistance totalled $2.5 billion, less than half of the agreed upon commitment.

HIV/AIDS has become a disease of young people, with half of all new infections occurring in 15-24-year-olds.  Yet, a majority of young people are unaware how the virus is transmitted.

About 350 million couples still lack access to a range of safe, effective and affordable contraceptive methods and only half of all births in developing countries take place with a trained birth attendant.

The UNFPA is the world's largest multilateral source of population assistance, providing support to developing countries, at their request, to meet reproductive health needs, collect and analyse population data and to integrate population and development strategies into national, regional and global planning.

For more information, please contact:Abubakar Dungus, tel.: +1 (212) 297-5031, e-mail: dungus@unfpa.org or visit the UNFPA’s Web site at www.unfpa.org.

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