| UNFPA in the News: Week of July 26-August
1, 2003 M2 Presswire reported July 29 that
the FAO, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs,
UNAIDS,
UNICEF, UNFPA, UNDP, WFP and WHO, in collaboration with non-governmental
organizations and the Southern
Africa Development Community, are appealing for $530 million
-$320 million for food and $210 million for other
aid – to address the humanitarian needs of 6.5 million vulnerable
people in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique,
Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In addition to food aid, the
12-month appeal also seeks to fund water and
sanitation, agriculture, education and health projects. In an August 1 story by Agence France-Presse,
Suman Mehta, global HIV/AIDS coordinator of UNFPA, warned
South and Southeast Asia could follow in the footsteps of AIDS-crippled
southern African nations. "The picture has changed dramatically," she said, and urged parliamentarians
to take time off from politics to forge strategies
against the disease. "Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Nepal and
Vietnam have registered marked increases in HIV
infection last year. China is on the brink of a widespread AIDS
epidemic. In India the figures are also daunting," she said, blaming the rise on poorly funded anti-AIDS programs. The Times of India reported July 27 that standing
at the door of this humble home in Heera Park, Najafgarh, one
hears an eager squeak – the squeak of Aastha Arora, born on May
11, 2000, and officially designated as
India's billionth baby. Aastha's neighbors are not quite sure
about this little girl's peculiar claim to fame, but they
have recognized that she is someone special ever since the day
the media splashed her face across the
country, and UNFPA representative Michael Vlassoff, then Union
minister for women and child development
Sumitra Mahajan and local MP Sahib Singh came to her modest home
with gifts. But that was three years ago.
Much has changed since then – except the reality that the Arora’s
lead a hand-to-mouth existence. "Both
Sumitra Mahajan and Sahib Singh promised me a job when they came
to see Aastha – but nothing has
happened," says Aastha's mother Anjana. The story also noted
a UNFPA grant earmarked for Aastha's
education could help Anjana make her dreams come true. While
the UNFPA grant is a fixed-term deposit worth
Rs 2 lakh, the interest on the amount is available to Aastha's
parents every six months. The Economic Times (India) reported July 30
that the earthquake that took place in 2001 and communal
disturbances in 2002 have reportedly left 50,000 people mentally
disturbed in Gujarat. But an acute shortage of
trained counselors to treat increasing cases of mental morbidity
is being felt in the state. The state government
has launched a major drive to combat mental illnesses, with the
help of UNFPA and Indian Council of Medical
Research, and concerted efforts are being made to engage more
medical and para-medical staff to strengthen
the ongoing project. The government has embarked upon a Mental
Health Mission to set up mental health
centers in all districts. Both The Tallahassee Democrat (FL) and The
Day (CT) ran an op ed by Gloria Feldt, President of Planned
Parenthood Federation of America, on July 29. In it, she states,
“Ever since President Bush imposed his global
gag rule on family planning programs in 2001, the world's poorest
women have paid an awful price.” Feldt also
noted, “The tragic irony of the global gag rule is that by cutting
off funding to family planning organizations, it has
actually increased the number of unintended pregnancies and illegal,
unsafe abortions—and consequently
needless deaths.” She concluded, “President Bush has developed
quite a record of saying he supports women's
health programs, and then cutting any program that does not fall
into line with his narrow, ideologically driven
position. Congress should respond by restoring U.S. funding for
UNFPA.” Read: Tallahassee
Democrat and The
Day
The Peoria Journal Star (IL) ran a July 29
editorial on the Population Reference Bureau latest report that
found
political unrest and war in Asia and Africa, especially, are
making it tougher to finance and promote the family
planning and literacy programs that have proven effective in
controlling soaring birth rates. The editorial
questioned, “If these are the facts, then this should be the
conclusion: Support for international family planning
programs should be a high priority of the United States government.
But if this is the conclusion, then these are
the facts: On July 14, the House of Representatives voted 216-211
to refuse, again, to contribute to the United
Nations Population Fund because some of that money goes to China
and because, it is alleged, some of its
programs in China support forced abortions. The Population Fund
denies that, and a study that President Bush
ordered last year found the allegation was essentially false.
It said U.N. family planning money did not pay for forced abortions, and in fact prevented them.” The editorial
concluded, “This foolish sacrifice of family planning
funds on abortion's altar is not in the national interest. Nor,
to the extent that it makes for more unwanted
pregnancies, is it in the interest of those who believe abortion
is murder. What it serves is politics and prejudices.
At this juncture in the nation's history, Americans should have
little patience with either.” Read: Peoria Journal
Star
Jane Roberts, Co-Founder of 34 Million Friends
of UNFPA Campaign wrote a July 27 letter that ran in The
Post-Standard (NY). In it she said, ”As co-founders of the idealistic,
grassroots 34 Million Friends campaign, Lois
Abraham and I thank you for informing your readers about our
11-month-long effort in your editorial July 22. At
www.34millionfriends.org you can find a photo of a young woman
in labor lying on a donkey cart, attempting, in
95-degree heat, to get to a United Nations Population Fund clinic
six miles away to give birth safely. She let me
take her picture when I promised that I would show it all around
the world for 34 Million Friends to gain support
for UNFPA. I have kept my promise.”
In a July 28 letter that ran in The Oregonian
(OR), reader Susan Bexton wrote, “As a registered nurse who
worked as a medical volunteer in Nigeria for two years, I am
saddened by the lack of sound public health policy
by our government regarding the enormous health problems in Africa.
President Bush used his recent trip to
Africa to tout his five-year, $15 billion anti-AIDS initiative
at the same time that his administration and members of
Congress successfully defunded the United Nations Population
Fund (UNFPA) for the second year, depriving
developing nations of $34 million for family planning.
The Post (Zambia) reported July 30 that a minimum
of 10 women die from maternal related cases every day,
disclosed by Non-Governmental Organizations Coordinating Committee’s
Executive Director Grace Kanyanga.
She also mentioned that UNFPA donated four vehicles to her organization,
Zambia Information Services and
Community Youth Concern.Kanyanga said, "We are not safe
because the 10 women who are recorded of dying
from maternal related cases do not reflect the real situation,
otherwise in real life there are more than 10."
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