| UNFPA in the News: Week of May 31-June
6th, 2003 The African Development Bank (ADB)
and the United Nations Population
Fund (UNFPA) will work jointly in the field of reproductive health
once
the bank's board of governors approves the proposal, according
a June 2
story by Panafrican News Agency. "Since UNFPA is already
intervening in
most African countries to check maternal mortality, the bank
would build
on this experience to design more interventions in this area," said
an
ADB official. If foreign aid from the European Union for
economic and social
development programs in Cuba is reduced in reprisal for the socialist
regime's recent crackdown on dissidents, it would hurt the people
rather
than the government, said international officials in Havana in
a June 2
story by Inter Press Service. Foreign aid targets people, and
less
assistance means fewer people are reached, Bruno Moro, the United
Nations Development Program (UNDP) resident coordinator in Cuba,
told
IPS. The story also mentioned that UNDP and UNFPA provided Cuba
with
$37.9 and $4.5 million, respectively, in assistance between 1997
and
2003. The Daily Star reported June 4 that the Ministry
of Health and the World
Health Organization announced the need for a comprehensive campaign
to
fight HIV/AIDS and increase awareness among the population. "The
issue
of HIV/AIDS has never been so high on the political agenda," said
Yves
de San, UN resident coordinator and UNFPA representative. "We
have never
before seen such high levels of awareness and commitment, but
HIV
continues to spread and infection rates are still rising in Africa,
Eastern Europe, Asia, and in many industrialized countries," said
de
San. Agence France-Presse reported June 5 that without
constant monitoring,
the Philippines could be within a few years or a few thousand
cases from
the threshold of a devastating AIDS epidemic, despite currently
low
infection rates, UNAIDS experts warned. A large, jetsetting labor
force,
a national aversion to condoms and irresponsible sexual behavior
are
crucial precursors to an epidemic explosion, UN and government
officials
told a ceremony to mark a new AIDS prevention partnership with
the
government, the UN's AIDS program and two foreign companies based
here. "
The Philippines may be lucky to have a number of factors that
have kept
the HIV prevalence low to date. But luck is not the way to control
the
epidemic," warned Zahidul Huque, an official of the United
Nations
Population Fund. Read: Agence France-Presse A June 1 feature story by Panay News mentioned
that Joan (not her real
name) sobbed when UNFPA Country Representative Zahidul Huque
promised
her he would help her go to college. Panay News noted that Joan
is a
teenager, a victim of incest rape and housed at the Aklan Comprehensive
Center for Women. Just like any other province, Aklan has its
share of
domestic violence. But with the vigilance of barangay, municipal
and
provincial officials coupled with the efforts of Philippine National
Police, Department of Social Welfare and Development, non-government
organizations (NGOs) and the media, people are now more aware
about this
problem; and cases in barangays are now reported in the nearest
PNP
Children and Women's Concern Desk in the respective municipalities.
Reuters reported June 4 that backers of international
family planning
efforts launched an effort in the U.S. House of Representatives
to
ensure that the U.S. restores funding to UNFPA. "Funding
for UNFPA means
increased access to reproductive health services, reduced maternal
mortality, emergency assistance in refugee situations and prevention
and
treatment of HIV," said Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y. The
story mentioned
that last month Crowley successfully added language to a bill
authorizing programs for the State Department that would restore
the $34
million Congress appropriated for UNFPA in fiscal year 2002.
President
Bush declined to spend those funds last July after charges were
made
that the agency was involved in coercive family planning programs
in
China. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said, "We all agree
that U.S. funds
should never go to promote coercive population practices in China
or
anywhere else, but they should be available to help end human
rights
violations where they exist and that's exactly what UNFPA is
doing." Read: Reuters According to a June 2 story by The Los Angeles
Times the fund-raising
drive co-founded by Redlands French teacher Jane Roberts to replace
the
$34 million the Bush administration cut from UNFPA has reached
$1,277,045, collected mostly a dollar at a time from Americans.
The
administration pulled funding for the family planning program
when it
said that the fund was indirectly supporting Chinese agencies
promoting
coerced abortion. Read: Los Angeles Times Dr. Jenny Tonge MP wrote a June 2 letter in
The Independent (London)
criticizing an article on George Bush's $15 billion in aid to
the war
against AIDS that mentioned, "George Bush is also refusing
to fund
international programs for reproductive health and AIDS prevention
via
the UNFPA and Global Health Fund. He is doing this because some
of these
programs are also trying to combat unsafe abortion, which is
a major
cause of maternal death in poor countries. The Times of Zambia reported June 4 that people
of North-Western
Province should brace themselves against the spread of the deadly
HIV/AIDS pandemic when Lumwana and Kansanshi copper mines open
up,
provincial Permanent Secretary Gabriel Namulambe warned at a
business
dinner organized by Mwaaka Lodge. He also appealed to Mwaaka
Lodge
management to sensitize all staff about the dangers of the disease.
The
story noted that the business dinner was attended by high profile
personalities in Solwezi who included senior Government officers,
bankers, medical doctors and others from international non-governmental
organizations such as UNFPA and World Food Program. Read: Panafrica
News
Agency
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