| UNFPA IN THE NEWS – August 23-29, 2003 UN News Centre reported August 25 that with support from UNFPA,
non-governmental organizations are building clinics and training
staff to serve rural communities in Afghanistan that have no
medical care. The story also noted that health authorities are
developing strategies for reducing maternal mortality. Read:
UN News Centre On August 29, Ghana News Agency reported that Eastern Regional
Director of the National Population Council, Mr. Kofi Abinah,
has attributed the high rate of mortality among the youth to
unsafe abortions, inaccessible health care delivery and lack
of information on reproductive health issues. He said workshops
and other seminars being organized by the NPC were to create
awareness and be used as a micro-strategy to seek information
for UNFPA. Read: Ghana News Agency Voice of America reported August 25 that ultrasound technology
is increasingly used in many countries as part of pre-natal care
to help doctors assess the baby's health. But in India, where
age-old traditions still run strong, the technology is being
used for other reasons. VOA noted that the 2001 national census
showed an alarming trend: males increasingly outnumber females
in many parts of the country. The reason, many pregnant women
are using ultrasound technology to determine the sex of their
children and then choosing to abort, if it is female. Francois
Farah is the representative of the United Nations Population
Fund in India. He says alarm bells went off when officials and
experts began to look at census figures, and realized there was
a skewed gender ratio. "The problem of sex selection has
gained increased importance, at least over the last 10 years.”
Read: Voice of America UN IRIN reported August 25 that the government of Cote d'Ivoire
has started to place condom dispensing machines in internet cafes
as part of its drive to control HIV/AIDS infection among young
people, a government official said. The project, financed by
Belgium and supervised by UNFPA, involves the installation of
vending machines that dispense cheap condoms in internet cafes
in nine towns and cities across the country, he said. A packet
of four condoms will cost just 100 FCFA (US 16 cents). Read:
UN IRIN UN IRIN reported August 28 that UNFPA in cooperation with WHO
is conducting a regional project with the aim of studying the
impact of radioactivity on the reproductive health of women in
Semipalatinsk. The project is expected to be completed by the
end of 2003. Read: UN IRIN On August 27, the Associated Press reported
the U.S. State Department has cut off funding for an AIDS program
benefiting African and
Asian refugees, saying it believes one of the groups, Marie Stopes
International, taking part in the program supports involuntary
abortions and sterilization in China. State Department spokesman
Philip Reeker said, "We offered this funding to six of them,
in order to continue supporting the good work that they've done
on prevention and response to HIV/AIDS in refugee settings," Reeker
said. The consortium of groups, the International Rescue Committee,
CARE, the American Refugee Committee, the Women's Commission
for Refugee Women and Children, John Snow International and Columbia
University's department of population and family health, declined
the government's offer, saying they would not divide the organization
because of "baseless allegations." Marie Stopes International
was excluded because of its partnership in China with UNFPA,
a group the Bush administration said last year had violated a
1985 law against supporting forced abortion or sterilization.
The New York Times and The Guardian (London) also reported on
this story. Read: Associated
Press, New
York Times and The
Guardian (London) Vero
Beach Press-Journal (FL) featured an August 27 story about a Thursday
morning Bible study group at Westminster Presbyterian Church that made it
their mission to assist an Ethiopian hospital struggling to cure women with
obstetric fistula. Pressured to stop financing abortions worldwide, President
Bush cut off millions of dollars in aid to the UN Population Fund, which
subsidized fistula prevention programs, noted the story. Read: Vero
Beach Press-Journal
UzReport.com
reported on August 26 that UNICEF and UNFPA started an international
training seminar in Tashkent
August 25-29 for teachers working with vulnerable groups of
youth. The aim of the seminar is to familiarize
teachers from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Voice of Viet Nam
reported August 28 that government
employees from 17 provinces gathered on Ho Chi Minh City for a conference
on reducing the stigmas attached to, and discrimination against AIDS patients.
The conference was organized by the center for Information and Ideology,
with
support from UNAIDS and UNFPA. Participants at the conference said the stigmas
and discrimination related to ethnicity, gender, drug use and criminal status
increase the vulnerability of people who engage in risky behavior. The
conference called for joint efforts to fight discrimination. Read: Voice
of Viet Nam
 Back to top
|
