| UNFPA in the News: Week of August 9-15,
2003 Conservative news agency, CNSNews.com
reported
August 12 that the Population Research Institute (PRI),
which says it is committed to "stopping human rights
abuses committed in the name of family planning," claims
to have detailed instances in which pamphlets were
distributed to teenagers and adolescents in Honduras,
featuring advertisements for colored and flavored
condoms. According to an April 2003 newsletter, "PRI
investigators have discovered that 'manual vacuum'
abortions are being performed in Kenya, illegally, by Marie
Stopes International." The newsletter claimed that an MSI
official admitted that manual vacuum aspirators (MVAs) --
hand-held suction devices - were being used to perform
abortions up to -- and even past -- 16 weeks' gestation,
and that the abortions were being labeled "post-abortion
care" or "menstrual regulation." The PRI newsletter also
mentioned that "USAID-funded 'family planning' groups
work with Marie Stopes and United Nations Population
Fund Agencies to promote MVAs and 'post-abortion care'
throughout Africa. Read: CNSNews.com An August 13 story by the Organization of Asia-Pacific
News Agencies mentioned minister for Women and
Children Affairs Begum Khurshid Jahan Haque urged all
concerned for changing attitudes towards women to resist
violence against them. "Women should be treated as
human being," she said while speaking at the inaugural
session of a day long seminar, "Assessing Male Attitudes
Toward Violence Against Women," organized by UNFPA.
The function, held at the BETS (Bangladesh Engineering
and Technological Services) center, was addressed by the
Netherlands ambassador J. L. Ijzermans, UNFPA
representative Ms. Suneeta Mukherjee, Deputy
representative Janet Jackson and good will ambassador of
UNFPA and noted film star of the country Abdur
Razzaque. The Daily Star (Bangladesh) reported August
14 that
issues of violence against women should be incorporated
into the curricula of secondary and higher secondary
schools including madrassah to change youths' attitude
towards women, found a study titled, “Assessing male
psycho-social attitudes towards violence against women.”
UNFPA conducted the study with the support of the Royal
Netherlands Embassy. Janet E. Jackson, outgoing deputy
representative of the UNFPA to Bangladesh, who
presented the study’s findings, said Bangladesh ranked
fourth in the world when it comes to violence against
women. "Sixty-five percent of Bangladeshi males think it is
justifiable to beat up their wives, 38 percent have no clear
idea what constitutes physical violence and 40 percent
support keeping women socially dormant," reported Janet
Jackson. "In Bangladesh about 14 percent of maternal
death occur due to violence," added Suneeta Mukherjee,
representative of the UNFPA to Bangladesh. Read: Daily
Star United News of Bangladesh reported August 9
that
cervical cancer, the most common malignancy among
Bangladeshi women aged 18-65, appears as a
considerable public health problem – although it is
curable, if identified at an early stage. “Registration of
cervix cancer increased 39-fold while breast cancer
increased 10-fold in the last few decades," gynecology
experts reported at a seminar on "Prevention of Cervical
Cancer." The seminar was chaired by Prof. Latifa
Shamsuddin, Chairman of the Obstetric and Gynecology
Department of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical
University and was addressed by Prof. Fazlur S. Haque,
President of Bangladesh Cancer Society, WHO consultant,
Dr. S. Hanna and UNFPA consultant, Dr. Jebun Nessa
Rahman. Read: United News of Bangladesh Reuters reported August 14 that women's activists
say
keeping the faith for baby girls in India is as tough as ever,
despite government moves to introduce laws barring
people with more than two children from running for
political office and holding government jobs. Already, the
government's aggressive campaign for two-child families
and India's obsession with having sons has led to an
increasing number of women aborting female fetuses to
make sure they have at least one boy, if not two. "The
bottom line is the number of girls is going down because of
pressure to have small families," said Francois Farah,
UNFPA representative in India. Read: Reuters The Press Trust of India reported August 13
that UNFPA
launched its sixth country program, which aims at
strengthening and making available reproductive health
services for all. “The good news for India was that fertility ratewas declining,” UNFPA's country representative Francois M.
Farah said. In addition, Newindpress.com reported August 14
the sixth country program will be implemented from 2003-07
in 32 most needy districts of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. The story also noted
that a special focus on adolescents and gender equality is the
highlight of the $75 million UNFPA project. Read:
Newindpress.com
An August 12 story by The Hindu (India) reported
that the
Madhya Pradesh AIDS Control Society is launching a
massive AIDS education program in schools throughout
the state on August 16. In addition, an advocacy workshop
on AIDS will be held on September 5. Besides senior state
officials, including those heading the Health, Women and
Child Welfare, and Education departments, the donor
agencies like UNICEF, DANIDA and UNFPA would also be
represented at this workshop. Daily Trust (Nigeria) reported August 12 that
at a one day
international seminar and project exhibition on population
concerns organized by Rotary International in Abuja,
President Olusegun Obasanjo said his government has
successfully adopted policies inherited 15 years ago to
control the population growth rate in Nigeria. The story
also mentioned that Imelda J.M. Henkin, the Assistant
Secretary-General of United Nations and Deputy
Executive Director, UNFPA said in a keynote speech that
there are 6.3 billion people on earth, triple the number of
just 70 years ago and projected that in the next 15 years,
there would be a billion more people; and by the year
2050, she said UN projected that there would be nearly
nine billion people. But according to her, if fertility were to
remain constant in all countries at current levels, the total
population of the globe would double by 2050, reaching
12.6 billion people. Read: Daily Trust An August 14 story by Asia Pulse reported that
UNFPA
and the Philippine government will evaluate the capability
of the various health service providers and advocates
involved in the implementation of the UNFPA's 5th country
program cycle of assistance. Dr. Moises Cerdoncillo,
UNFPA's reproductive health program national adviser,
said the program, which consists of reproductive health
and advocacy sub-programs began four years ago and is
set to start up next year. The multi-million peso program,
with grants from the UNFPA, focused on strengthening the
capability of health service providers and advocates,
purchase of equipment and other health facilities,
construction of infrastructure projects like clinics and
birthing centers and others. The Straits Times (Singapore)
reported August 13 that
Bangkok's soaring divorce rate has lent momentum to the
ageing of the population as fewer babies are being born,
says a Thai population researcher. In just seven years,
the divorce rate increased to 20.9 per cent of couples from
9.6 percent. Dr. Kua Wongboonsin, a lecturer at
Chulalongkorn University's College of Population Studies
who studied the divorce rate between 1993 and 2000, said
this was worrisome as the fertility rate in the capital was
already lower than the national average. The story noted
Dr. Wongboonsin's predictions for the year 2050 were
roughly in line with UNFPA projections: Both predict about
half of Thailand's population will be 60 years or older by
then. Issues thrown up by this trend will have to be
addressed seriously by policymakers, analysts say.
Read: Straits Times An August 10 op ed in The Detroit Free Press
(MI) by
William Milliken, Republican governor of Michigan from
1969 to 1983, noted that the Republican Party could be
setting itself up for defeat in 2004 in a scenario similar to
that of 1992. “By playing the politics of the past, the GOP
is allowing itself to become identified with an agenda on
family planning that threatens to reverse the decades of
progress in empowering women in the United States and
abroad…These absolutists have just won a narrow vote in
the U.S. House to cut in half America's contribution to the
United Nation's Population Fund (UNFPA), the only truly
worldwide effort to provide reproductive health services to
families in the developing world.” He concluded, “As we
head into another election cycle, we are certain to hear
much about ‘compassionate conservatives’. Last time it
was a promise; this time it will be a matter of record. Voters
who care about these issues will rightly ask themselves, ‘Is
my country more compassionate than it was four years
ago?’ The GOP has only 15 months left to improve its
record if it has any chance of getting skeptical women –
and men – to answer, ‘Yes’.” Read: Detroit Free Press
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