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| UNFPA at work in Nicaragua Programme highlights: Forging a Sustainable Future Overcoming Barriers and Working to Develop a National Population Policy Advocating Population Issues Box:Making a difference in El Chile |
The UNFPA office in Managua is located in an
office building on a quiet, shady street, not far from the city’s main military
hospital. The Fund occupies the entire building because the Managua office also oversees
population programmes in Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Panama. The staff of 11,
consisting of 6 support personnel and 5 professionals, is led by Jairo Palacio. In his early 50s, beard flecked with gray, he looks like a university professor. "He is above all," said one colleague, "a master of the art of the possible." Jairo has spent most of his professional life in Latin America, 18 years as the regional adviser on population education for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), based in Caracas, Venezuela, and Santiago, Chile. Managua is his first UNFPA post. His long involvement with Latin America serves him well in Nicaragua, a country where half the population of 4.6 million is officially unemployed, and 70 per cent struggle to survive on one dollar a day or less. The average family size is 4-5 children, but in the countryside, poor farm families often have 7 or 8. Infant mortality in some remote mountain communities often reaches 100 per 1,000 live births; 1 in every 10 babies does not live to see a first birthday. Teenagers between 15 and 19 years of age account for nearly one-quarter of all births in Nicaragua, the highest percentage in Central America. There has been some progress. Family size has fallen by one-third, life expectancy has risen from 55 to 68 years and infant mortality has been halved since 1970. But all these vital statistics are worse than the average for Central American countries. Recent investments in medical care and better access to reproductive health and family planning services are beginning to pay off. With UNFPA assistance, the Adolescent Centre for Reproductive Health was set up in the Bertha Calderon Hospital in Managua in an effort to cater specifically to the reproductive health needs of adolescents; now close to 1,500 centres nationwide collaborate with the Centre, including rural health units, secondary schools, non-governmental organization (NGO) clinics and universities. As part of this initiative, more than 2,200 secondary school teachers have received training in sex education and reproductive health issues. The number of unsafe abortions and maternal deaths among adolescents has begun to drop. Much remains to be done, however. Nicaragua’s population is still growing by 2.85 per cent a year, one of the fastest rates in Latin America. Moreover, most of this growth is concentrated in the Pacific watershed, where two-thirds of the population lives on just 15 per cent of the country’s land area. In 1950, only one-third of all Nicaraguans were urban dwellers. Today, that average has climbed to over 50 per cent. By 2025, three-quarters of the population will be urbanized, with the majority living in Managua and its sprawling suburbs. Projections indicate the population will double in 40 years. By then, the country will need an additional 9,000 doctors, 2,000 new health posts and 20,000 nurses. In the next five years alone, another 3,000 teachers will have to be trained to accommodate 30,000 new students. These growing demands absorb much of the government’s budget. Until 1990, when the Sandinistas lost the presidential and legislative elections to Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, UNFPA was the only international organization working in the field of population, reproductive health and family planning. Today, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has returned and a number of other bilateral donors are showing greater interest, including Canada, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway and the European Commission. "Poverty breeds large families," comments Jairo. "The poor spend most of their income on staying alive. They can’t save money or invest in better technology. They can’t afford to buy contraceptives, not even for the equivalent of 50 US cents for a package of pills. Nor can they afford to educate their children. So poverty is passed on from one generation to the next." UNFPA is helping to break this vicious cycle of poverty and large families by addressing basic needs in reproductive health and family planning. Wedded to this approach is a commitment to increasing the visibility of population programmes through well-targeted information, education and communication (IEC) strategies. |
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