For more than 30 years, the United Nations Population Fund has sought to improve reproductive health and family planning in the developing world and to help all countries find an equitable, sustainable balance between population and development.

In the year 2000, UNFPA provided assistance to 142 developing nations, with special emphasis on increasing the quality of reproductive health services, ending gender discrimination and violence, formulating effective population policies and reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The impact of AIDS in particular illustrated the need for greater investments in public health. Such investments are crucial if we are to break the debilitating cycle of ill health and poverty. And to make the most of such investments, we must give priority to women and make sure they have the freedom, knowledge and power to make healthy decisions. When women have no say, they cannot protect themselves from HIV infection or plan their families and futures. But when women are empowered through better education and health care, the benefits are immediate: families are healthier, and so are countries.

This annual report documents UNFPA’s diverse efforts as the world’s largest multilateral source of population funding and largest supplier of condoms and other reproductive health commodities. By helping people make informed, responsible and free choices about their reproductive health, UNFPA brings us closer each day to achieving the population and development goals we have set for ourselves and our planet.

Kofi A. Annan
Secretary-General
of the United Nations
Photo: UN/DPI / Milton Grant