PRESS
RELEASE
The ICPD+5 review
process
Partnerships Can Provide
Better
Reproductive Health Care
Round-table Speakers Report
DHAKA, Bangladesh, 30 July -- Collaboration
between governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is
essential to quality reproductive health care the Round Table on
Partnership with Civil Society in the Implementation of the ICPD
Programme of Action heard today. The meeting began its final day
with presentations on how partnerships in Peru, Egypt, Bangladesh,
Nigeria and Eastern Europe have promoted access to reproductive
health and family planning services.
Convened by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and hosted
by the Government of Bangladesh, the four-day round-table meeting is
part of "ICPD+5", a series of international activities reviewing
progress since the the 1994 International Conference on Population
and Development (ICPD) in Cairo. They will culminate in an
international forum next February in The Hague, the Netherlands, and
a special session of the United Nations General Assembly in June and
July 1999.
About 70 participants from some 40 countries -- representatives
from NGOs and other sectors of civil society as well as from
governments -- are discussing civil society involvement in carrying
out the ICPD action plan. The aim is to identify successes and
constraints, and recommend actions to accelerate progress --
particularly policy changes that will facilitate partnerships
involving a broad range of civil society actors, as called for in
the Programme of Action.
The first speaker this morning, Susana Galdos Silva, from Peru,
talked about the creation in July 1997 of a Tripartite Board,
comprised of 24 government institutions, civil society groups and
international agencies. It seeks to promote better conditions for
women, equality between the sexes, the empowerment of women, men’s
involvement and access to reproductive and sexual rights.
The process of working with grass-roots groups, she said, has
educated health providers about women’s reproductive health concerns
such as pain during delivery, vaginal infections and the bearing of
too many children. The partnership supports the aims of the ICPD,
by, for instance, campaigning against sexual violence against girls.
In addition, she noted, a law punishing violence against women has
been enacted and police officers are being trained to enforce
it.
Women often mention domestic violence as a cause of reproductive
health problems, Ms. Galdos Silva reported. While information on the
laws against violence has been distributed, it has not reached the
rural areas. Many rural women, she added, still accept the myth that
violence is a sign of affection, believing the saying, "the more you
love me, the more you hit me."
Reproductive health services should be extended to geographically
and culturally isolated communities and laws against violence more
widely distributed and enforced, she concluded. Civil society groups
should work more closely with local authorities, and families should
be more involved in reproductive health programmes. Most important,
she stressed, programmes should place greater emphasis on
reproductive health needs that clients identify as most
important.
Moushira Al-Shafie, First Under-Secretary of Egypt’s Ministry of
Health and Population, described how the Government, international
agencies and civil society groups had increased their collaboration
in advocating for reproductive health, including an expansion of
family planning services. One result was their successful advocacy
against female genital mutilation, which ultimately led to the
practice’s prohibition in Egypt.
"Without the help of NGOs and other actors in civil society we
would never have made this kind of progress, " she said.
Health services in Egypt are provided by partnerships of the
public, private, and NGO sectors. The private sector provides about
50 per cent of modern contraceptives, while more than 12,000
pharmacists, assistants and doctors have been trained since the
Cairo conference. Public sector provision of services has risen,
however, from 35.7 per cent to 40.7 per cent since then.
Abu Yusuf Choudhury, Director of the Programme for the
Introduction and Adaptation of Contraceptive Technology, Bangladesh,
called for better coordination between the Government and NGOs. They
should agree, for instance, on whether both sides will charge prices
for their reproductive health and family planning services. Although
Bangladesh is a poor country, he suggested, the Government could
start charging moderate prices for its services just as the NGOs are
doing. However, safety nets to protect the interests of the poor
must be retained.
Boniface Oye-Adeniran of Nigeria, President of the Confederation
of African Medical Associations, spoke extensively on his
organization. He also talked about unsafe abortion in Nigeria, which
accounts for a significant portion of the country’s high maternal
mortality. By law, abortion is allowed only to save the life of a
mother; it is nevertheless available to the rich, but not to the
poor, he said. A group of doctors, nurses, lawyers, social
scientists and democracy activists have formed an NGO to campaign
against unwanted pregnancy and for a reform of the abortion law.
Janet Jackson of the London-based International Planned
Parenthood Federation, spoke about her work with NGOs in Central and
Eastern Europe. She said women in the region are becoming poorer, in
part because they have to pay more for reproductive health
services.
"Women are poor in health because the health system is breaking
down due to cuts in the health budgets and the deterioration of the
purchasing power of allocated amounts due to inflation," she said.
"The quality of services is sliding, with less choice available to
women." One consequence of the transition to market economies, she
said, is that women’s voices are heard less than previously. "That
is partly because women’s associations are seen as part of the old,
socialist regimes. The challenge is to work with the associations to
provide more services."
There is an urgent need in Eastern Europe, she continued, for
better education on reproductive health services, to correct
misinformation about the choices available. To meet this need, NGOs
are working with the media to promote contraception and reproductive
health, using television and radio messages from respected figures.
Partnerships with youth groups have helped to break down taboos
surrounding open discussion of sexuality, and to counter the
influence of the pornography industry. Parents, she added, have been
brought into partnerships to address youth concerns to and to help
bridge the generation gap. Partnerships have also helped to reduce
the price of contraceptives in some countries.
Participants then went into their respective working groups to
complete their reports. Conclusions will be presented at the closing
session on Thurdsay afternoon.
(For information purposes only. Not an official
document.)
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