| UNFPA in the News: Week of May 24-30,
2003 A May 28 story by Panafrican News
Agency (PANA) reported that Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo
opened the seventh meeting of the Implementation Committee of
NEPAD, the homegrown initiative aimed at
fast-tracking the development of the African continent. The story
mentioned that at top of the agenda is the
consideration of a panel of eminent persons for the African Peer
Review Mechanism, a key aspect of NEPAD
to ensure good governance in Africa. The nominees include Adebayo
Adedeji, former Executive Secretary of
the Economic Commission for Africa, Graca Machel, President,
National commission of UNESCO, Marie
Angelique Savane, former Executive Director,UNFPA Africa Bureau,
and Dorothy Njeuma, chancellor of
University of Buea, Cameroon and former Vice-Minister of National
Education. Agence France-Presse also
reported on this story May 28. Dr. Nafis Sadik, Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General
on HIV/AIDS in Asia, was in Malaysia
May 20 to deliver a lecture on HIV/AIDS and the family, according
to a May 25 story by Malaysia’sSunday
Mail. The lecture was organized by the Ministry of Women and
Family Development, the National Population
and Family Development Board, UNDP ndUNFPAMalaysia and IPPF
of East and Southeast Asia and
Oceania. "Most women in Asian countries today can count
on at least some education and some basic health
care," says Dr. Nafis, a doctor who joined theUN's Population
Fund in 1971 and served as its Executive
Director in 1987, before retiring in 2000. The May 30-June 30 issue ofMmegi noted Mpule
Kwelagobe, the UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador said that the
epidemic had long surpassed being a health issue and had become
a component of the social economic and
security issue. Read: Mmegi and
Republic
of Botswana According to a May 28 story by Organization of Asia-Pacific
News Agencies, more than 1 million cycles of oral
contraceptives will be handed over to Cambodia’s Ministry of
Health in the UN Population Fund's latest
campaign to improve maternal health and reduce maternal mortality
rates, the Cambodia Daily reported. Birth
control pills are the most popular form of contraceptive among
married women, and use of the birth spacing
drugs has increased dramatically since 1999, said Khim Keovathanak,
UNFPA's reproductive health
monitoring officer. The contribution aims to draw Cambodia closer
to achieving the UN's Millennium
Development Goal to reduce the maternal mortality ratio between
1990 and 2015 by two-thirds. According to a May 26 story by Xinhua General News Service,The
Myanmar Times reported that Myanmar
will launch a three-year project targeting at adolescents to
inform them of reproductive health issues including
avoidance of HIV/AIDS, of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted
diseases. The 1.15-million-US-dollar
project, which will begin this year, funded by UNFPA, is carried
out by the London-based International Planned
Parenthood Federation and by two non-governmental organizations
-- the Myanmar Maternal and Child
Welfare Association and the Marie Stopes International, the UNFPA
Yangon Office was quoted as saying.
In its May 30-June 5 issue,Nepal News featured
an excerpt of an interview with Bill Musoke, Country
Representative of UNFPA, who has been involved in the implementation
and execution of the UNFPA's major
programs. Musoke said according to the 2001 census of Nepal,
the total population is 23.1 million and is
projected to be growing at the rate of 2.24 percent per annum.
If this growth rate prevails, Nepal's population
will double within 31 years. This will adversely affect the Nepalese
economy and increase pressure on limited
resources like food, water, and environment, with growing demands
for education, health services, drinking
water and other basic services. Read: Nepal News Panafrican News Agency (PANA) reported May 26 that a consortium
of groups based in Nigeria launched a
media handbook on the coverage of HIV/AIDS and other related
issues in the country. The 99-page book is an
initiative of the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC), Journalists
Against AIDS (JAAIDS) and
Development Communications Network (DEVCOMS), all based in Lagos.
It was produced in collaboration
with UNICEF, UNDP, UNAIDS andUNFPA. Seychelles Nation reported May 30 that this
year marks the 10th Anniversary of World Population Day (WPD)
celebration in Seychelles and to commemorate this landmark, which
falls on July 11, a series of activities is
being organized to sensitize the public on the importance of
population and development issues both in
Seychelles and internationally. According to the story, the poster
contest is aimed at getting children, as well
as adults, to illustrate a specific issue designated by UNFPA.
Read: Seychelles Nation New Straits Times reported May 24 that former beauty queen Rosy
Senanayake is looking forward to her task
as the new Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Malaysia. It also
mentioned that Senanayake, who was
appointed Sri Lanka's goodwill ambassador to UNFPA in 1998, said
being a High Commissioner was
"
absolutely something new for me but we women can take up any
challenge and this is a challenge.” As
UNFPA goodwill ambassador, she has promoted reproductive health
services for workers, in particular for
migrant women workers in Sri Lanka's Free Trade Zone. The Nation reported May 29 that a study, "Male Prostitutes
in Bangkok: A Channel for HIV/AIDS," was
released by the Thai Association for Safe Sex and Better Quality
of Life in conjunction with the Health Ministry.
Association Director Sipaporn Kritsanachinda said the study was
sponsored by UNFPA, and involved
interviews with 100 male prostitutes from August 2001 to November
2002. New Vision (Uganda) and Xinhua General News
Service reported May 30 that UNFPA has handed over a
donation of equipment worth over 230 million shillings (about
115,000 US dollars) to the Ministry of Gender,
Labor and Social Development of Uganda. UNFPA representative
in Uganda James Kuriah urged the
beneficiaries to use the equipment responsibly, saying that despite
efforts by all players, the status of
adolescent health in the country is still poor. "The teenage
pregnancy rate is still alarmingly high at 31 percent
and the opportunities for girls are still narrow. We need to
re-examine our strategies and make our programs
stronger," he added. Read: New Vision The Globalist featured a May 30 story that
noted arguments over abstinence versus condom usage nearly
derailed the HIV/AIDS bill and have resulted in limits on how
these funds may be spent.The Globalist
mentioned anti-abortion groups have already succeeded in cutting
U.S. contributions to UNFPA. The
President seems particularly eager to reach out to fundamentalist
Christian groups. A new office of faith-based
initiatives is being created at USAID to help religious organizations
compete for grant money. Read: The
Globalist 
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