UNFPA in the News: Week of February 1-7, 2003

BOTSWANA: Mpule Kwelagobe Selected as Global Leader for Tomorrow
Mpule Kwelagobe, Botswana's Miss Universe 1999 and Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Population Fund, was among international personalities selected by the World Economic Forum as the "Global Leaders for Tomorrow" for the year 2003, according a February 6 story by The Daily News (Botswana). Read: The Daily News

EUROPEAN UNION: Population Figures for EU Candidates
The Anadolu Agency reported February 2 that according to data by the United Nations Population Fund, Turkey's population is expected to reach 98.8 million and Poland's population will be the greatest among other EU candidate countries with 33.4 millions by 2050. Estonia and Malta's populations are projected to have the lowest population among EU candidate countries with 800,000 and 400,000, respectively.

GAMBIA: Population Issues Critical to Meeting Millennium Development Goals
The Independent (Gambia) noted in its February 3 story that population concern is critical to meeting the Millennium Development Goals of cutting global poverty and hunger to half by 2015, reducing maternal and child deaths, curbing HIV/AIDS, advancing gender equality, and promoting environmentally sustainable development, according to the UNFPA 2002 population reports.

KENYA: Donor Agencies Give Sh168m for AIDS Data
According to The Eastern African Standard's February 6 story, a consortium of six donor agencies gave the country a total of Sh168 million (US $2.14 million) to gauge knowledge and behavior regarding HIV/AIDS among Kenyans. The donor agencies providing financial and other forms of support to the survey include United Nations Population Fund, United Nations Development Programme-Japanese Human Resources Development Fund, USAID, the British Dfid, UNICEF and U.S. Center for Disease Control. Read: The Eastern African Standard

KENYA: Woodley City Council Clinic Receives Equipment
The Easter African Standard also reported February 6 that the local government minister Karisa Maitha of the Maragwa District spoke at the Woodley City Council clinic where he received the renovated health unit and equipment from the United Nations Population Fund Kenya's country representative, Dr. Sidiki Coulibaly. Read: The Eastern African Standard

PAKISTAN: Government Working to Empower Women
According to a February 3 story by the Pakistan Newswire, the government has taken a number of steps for the economic empowerment of women folk enabling them to play their vital role in the nation building, noted the Federal Secretary for Women Development, Mrs. Parveen Qadir Agha. While providing details about the government's steps, she hoped that Khushali Bank and Food Support Program will help enable women folk to enhance their capabilities for the socio-economic development of the country. The workshop was jointly organized by the Ministry of Women Development and the United Nations Population Fund.

UGANDA: Fertile Women
The Monitor reported February 1 that Uganda has some of the world's most fertile women, State minister for Health, Capt. Mike Mukula said. Mukula noted this yesterday shortly after receiving maternity equipment worth Shs 800m from the United Nations Population Fund at the ministry of Health headquarters in Mulago. Mukula said women in Uganda produce an average of seven children each, making it the country with the fifth highest fertility rate in the world. Read: The Monitor

UNITED STATES: Christian Soldiers on the March
The February 3 issues of The Nation noted that the Bush Administration's international policies on sexual and reproductive health and rights, meanwhile, have been a Christian fundamentalist's dream. Within hours of the inaugural ball Bush was at his desk reviving the "global gag rule," which essentially corners humanitarian organizations worldwide into hushing up about abortion. He then stripped the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) of 12.5 percent of its budget, withheld $3 million from the World Health Organization's Human Reproduction Program and is now earmarking $33 million-almost exactly the amount he took away from the UNFPA-to augment domestic abstinence-until-marriage "sex-ed."

UNITED STATES: 34 Million Friends Campaign Continues Progress
On February 2, The Chicago Tribune featured a story on the ongoing success of the 34 Million Friends campaign. The Tribune noted, "Last summer, the Bush administration decided to withhold a $34 million appropriation for the UN Population Fund, an agency that has run afoul of Republican presidents for its alleged support of China's draconian population-control policy, which includes coerced abortions. That decision angered Lois Abraham of Taos, N.M., and Jane Roberts of Redlands, Calif.-two women who had never met but who simultaneously decided to start a fundraising campaign to replace the lost millions." Read: The Chicago Tribune

A St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN) column by Glenda Holste ran on February 7 that noted, "Justice is rolling down-with increasing volume-into the mailbox of the U.N. Population Fund. Almost a half-million dollars in personal contributions have come, mostly in small donations, since the U.S. government last July reneged on its appropriated contribution of $34 million to the fund." Read: St. Paul Pioneer Press

UNITED STATES: Does Bush Care?
In her February 2 letter in Press Journal of Vero Beach, FL, reader, Clare Fairbairn said, "When President Bush was in Chicago outlining his economic-stimulus plan, he stated during his speech, "I care about the peoples of the world." Does he really? What about the women who were counting on help from the United Nations Population Fund?"

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