| UNFPA in the News: Week of JUNE 14-20,
2003 On June 18, UNFPA and EngenderHealth
released a major report on fistula
in Africa at a press conference in New York City. Stories were
filed by
numerous news outlets.
On June 19, the Associated Press reported that more than two
million
women suffer from a serious complication of pregnancy that can
easily be
cured, and in Africa many risk being ostracized by their families
because of it, according to a new report by UNFPA. The condition,
obstetric fistula, is so unpleasant that it isn't discussed in
many
African countries where it is prevalent, and as a result the
number of
girls and women suffering in silence has grown, said the report
released
Wednesday. UNFPA and the international family planning agency
EngenderHealth, who prepared the report, called for African governments
that have remained silent for too many years to tackle the problem. "We
hope this report will sound a global alarm about fistula," said
Thoraya
Ahmed Obaid, UNFPA's Executive Director said at a news conference
on
June 18. "Most women living with fistula today suffer in
silence,
unaware that a simple cure is available." Read: Associated
Press,
Also covered by: Reuters,
Inter
Press Service, Voice
of America and The Monitor (Uganda) As the report continues to be covered
by the news media, we will update
you on additional
angles and outlets. UN IRIN reported June 18 that mothers and children
in war-affected
northern Central African Republic (CAR) urgently need humanitarian
aid,
the head of an inter-agency UN mission that toured the region
from 11-14
June told IRIN. The official, Adam Ahmat, who is a population
and
development specialist at UNFPA, said that there were "many
cases" of
acute malnutrition along the 305 km road from Bangui, the capital,
to
the town of Bossangoa. "Bossangoa regional hospital has
one qualified
nurse and one midwife," he said. Read: UN IRIN According to a June 20 story by UN IRIN, about
27.5 percent of children
in the Central African Republic (CAR) are not legally registered
at
birth, which prevents them from having access to schooling and
other
community services, UNICEF said. While celebrating the Day of
the
African Child, the government delivered birth certificates free
of
charge to 50 unregistered children. In turn, UNICEF offered to
pay for
birth certificates for 100 others in Bangui, the capital, at
the request
of poor mothers. A UNICEF specialist in matters of birth registration,
Marie Serra, said that a Plan of Action to tackle the registration
issue
had been laid down by the government, UNICEF, UNFPA and the French
Government's cooperation program. Read: UN IRIN
On June 18, Panafrican News Agency reported
that UNAIDS is in
Brazzaville as part of a mission to support efforts by the Congolese
government and other partners in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Representatives from UNAIDS are expected to hold talks with top
government officials and various individuals and organizations
involved
in fighting AIDS. UNAIDS will help establish the national council
against AIDS, an authority in charge of the co-ordination and
implementation of anti-AIDS program, led by President Denis Sassou
Nguesso. As part of its support to the national response, the
UN system
particularly underscored, in its 2003-2004 UN plan, the fight
against
AIDS by investing in an inter-agencies initiative against HIV/AIDS.
This
initiative groups WHO, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and WFP. The organizations
intervene according to their respective domains of advantages
in
fighting the disease. GhanaWeb reported June 19 that police Supt
Kofi Darkey Aikins, Northern
Regional Crime Officer, appealed to the government not to relent
in its
efforts to equip the Women and Juvenile Unit (WAJU) in all the
regions
for effective work to combat atrocities against women and children.
Aikins, who is in charge of WAJU in the Region, made the appeal
when he
addressed a seminar on: "Impact of Violence on Women and
Adolescents
Reproductive Health" organized for 25 Police personnel in
Tamale and
sponsored by UNFPA. The seminar sought to train personnel of
the Unit on
the impact of violence on women and children and to see how best
such
violence could be dealt within the region to eliminate such dehumanizing
activities. Read: GhanaWeb
The Nation reported on June 16th that about
N34 million is needed to
complete UNICEF assisted projects for the fourth country programme
in
Abia State. This was made known by the Executive Secretary, Abia
State
planning commission, Hope Onyekwere while briefing UNICEF programme
manager and Desk Officers on the new operational methods of
international bodies and donor agencies including UNFPA and UNDP
in
Umuahia. Read: Daily Times of Nigeria HiPakistan reported on June 18 that Balochistan
Chief Minister Jam
Muhammad Yousuf has asserted that his government was adopting
concrete
measures to provide basic facilities to the people and the UN
and other
volunteer organisations are also helping the government in this
regard.
In a conversation with UNFPA country director Oliver Brazar,
Yousuf said
that the government attached top priority to provide education
and
health facilities to the people. Read: HiPakistan Interfax news agency reported June 20 that
The Turkmen Foreign Ministry
has voiced readiness to receive a Russian delegation to examine
the
situation in the country. "The Turkmen side is ready to
host a Russian
delegation, which will have a chance to study the actual situation
in
Turkmenistan, including matters related to the implementation
of the
protocol terminating the dual citizenship agreement," the
ministry
statement said. "The Turkmen side is extremely alarmed over
the
continuing propaganda efforts in the Russian media aimed at spreading
intentional false information about the situation in Turkmenistan," the
statement said. Interfax noted that missions of such major institutions
and organizations as UNHCR, the UN Development Program, UNICEF,
UNFPA,
the International Organization for Migration and others are accredited
and function effectively in Ashgabat. Read: Interfax The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA) ran a June
19 op ed by Peter
Kostmayer, President of Population Connection that mentioned: "Members
of the Bush administration have stated repeatedly that women
will not be
forgotten in the rebuilding, but many have wondered aloud if
they can be
trusted to keep their promise. The administration's abysmal record
on
reproductive health issues, including re-instituting the global
gag rule
that limits discussion about family planning services (even in
countries
where all services are legal) and de-funding the United Nations
Population Fund, does not give advocates for women's health much
hope."
Kostmayer continued, "The best way to improve conditions
is to support
the work of the U.N. Population Fund, the world's largest international
source of funding for population and reproductive health programs.
The
fund's work has been successful enough to gain the respect and
financial
support of every industrialized country in the world, with the
lone
exception of the United States." Read: Seattle Post-Intelligencer The feminist Ms. Magazine's Summer 2003 issue
features a special report,
"
Global Sex Rules; The Price of Silence," by Michele Kort
on the Bush
administration's global gag rule on reproductive health. According
to
the story, "By silencing international family planning providers,
cutting off U.S. funds for UNFPA and hiring anti-choice ideologues
to
make women's health decisions, these politicians have put lives
at risk.
The case is clear: Women have died as a result." Associated Press reported June 19 that the
winner of this year's United
Nations Population Award urged the United States to resume its
leadership in funding international efforts to reduce rapid population
growth. The U.S. Congress appropriated $34 million last year
for the
U.N. Population Fund, but conservative activists opposed the
funding on
grounds that U.N. money was being used for forced abortions and
sterilizations in China. Even though a U.S. government fact-finding
team
found no evidence of this, U.S. President George W. Bush refused
to
release the money. Werner Fornos, president of the Washington-based
Population Institute, made the appeal at a ceremony where he
received
the 22nd annual award to an individual from Nane Annan, wife
of U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The Family Planning Association
of Kenya
received the institutional award. "We support all means
of family
planning, from natural methods for those for whom it works, to
modern
medically approved methods," Fornos said. "We do not
accept abortion as
a method of family planning. For abortion, like war, is a failure
of
society to come to grips with a much more fundamental problem,
in this
case, the prevention of unintended pregnancies."
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