UNFPA IN THE NEWS – NOVEMBER 1-7, 2003

AFRICA: Effects of Global Gag Rule in Africa

The Christian Science Monitor (MA) November 5 story on U.S. family planning funding drying up in Africa mentioned that the Bush administration's stand on abortion has also been influential. The United States was once the largest source of funding for family planning in the world, but last year, it cut UNFPA, a major donor to family planning organizations, out of the budget. Read: Christian Science Monitor, Women’s Enews

AFRICA: Countries Called on to Make Family Planning a Major Priority

This Day (Nigeria) reported November 7 that the WHO has called on African countries to make family planning a major priority in health interventions. The story mentioned experts have asserted that African women are 175 times more likely to die in childbirth than women in developed countries. Based on recent findings on maternal mortality by WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA, a woman living in sub-Saharan Africa has one in sixteen chance of dying in pregnancy or childbirth as against one in 2,800 risk for a woman in the developed region. Read: This Day

GLOBAL: Conference on Ensuring Quality Obstetric Care

New Straits Times (Malaysia) reported November 3 that more than 300 participants from over 50 countries were gathered in Kuala Lumpur recently for the third Global Conference on Averting Maternal Deaths and Disability (AMDD). The three-day forum, which started from Oct 21, discussed progress in making quality emergency obstetric care available in developing countries. The conference also focused on ways of further reducing maternal mortality, an important United Nations Millennium Development Goal. The story mentioned in Rajasthan, India, the availability of emergency obstetrics care has increased with support from United Nations Population Fund and AMDD.

MIDDLE EAST: Checkpoints Restrict Women’s Access to Reproductive Health Services

Inter Press Service (IPS) reported November 4 that the plight of women failing to make it to a hospital in the Occupied Territories has caused considerable concern. IPS noted the United Nations Population Fund has even released a video 'Birth at the Checkpoint.' "It is quite incredible that the lack of access to medical care caused by the closures and checkpoints does not solicit international action," says Laura Wick, researcher in reproductive health. "This situation affects women and children the most because they are most frequently in need of health care," she told IPS on email. Hospital deliveries have decreased from 97.4 percent before the Intifadah to 67 percent, says the UNFPA report. Antenatal and postnatal attendance rates have decreased. The Ministry of Health of the Palestinian Authority estimates that as few as 30 percent of eligible women attend maternity services.

UNITED NATIONS: Panel Named to Recommend Better Deal with Global Security Threats

Associated Press reported November 4 that responding to the deep divisions over the U.S.-led war on Iraq, Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed a 16-member panel to examine current threats to global security and recommend how the United Nations and other institutions can best meet these challenges. Nafis Sadik of Pakistan, former Executive Director of UNFPA, was named to the panel.

BANGLADESH: Despite Laws, Violence against Women Continues

A November 1 story by Inter Press Service reported that violence against women in Bangladesh continues to be difficult to quantify because of unreliable statistics, but recent reports underline the fact that domestic violence is widespread. A report released by the United Nations Population Fund has asserted that close to half of all adult women report physical abuse by their male partner.

GHANA: Workshop to Preserve the Rights of Women and Children

Ghana News Agency reported November 6 that Mr. John Asiamah, Western Regional Police Commander has noted with concern that the absence of Women and Juvenile Units (WAJU) in other districts was hampering swift prevention of crimes such as defilement, rape, violence against women and children and the abuse of human rights.Mr. Asiamah was speaking at a day's training workshop for 16 personnel of the Western Regional WAJU, under the theme: "The rights of women and children" at Takoradi. It was organized by the WAJU, in collaboration with the National Commission on Children (NCC) and sponsored by UNFPA. Read: Ghana News Agency

GHANA: Stop Discriminating against People with HIV/AIDS

Ghana News Agency reported November 5 that Dr. Moses Mukasa, UNFPA country representative, said those without the disease should consider themselves fortunate and not superior as they were also exposed to the same practices and often engaged in the activities that led to infection. "Every time you look at the face of an infected person you should think that it could have been you. The fact that you get gonorrhoea, syphilis and other STDs and you move on as if nothing has happened and that because you got treated should not make you feel like a better person and label others with HIV/AIDS. We are all in the same boat and we can sink." Read: Ghana News Agency

GHANA: The Manya Krobo Fight Spread of HIV/AIDS

Ghana News Agency reported November 1 that the chiefs and people of the Manya Krobo Traditional Area have embarked on various HIV/AIDS awareness strategies to fight the spread of the pandemic in the area noted to be among the highest prevalent areas in the country. The Manya Krobo Queen Mothers, the Klo Drivers Alliance and the Krobo Youth Volunteers Group, who are spearheading the campaign are being supported by the Family Health International, the Ghana AIDS Commission, the UNICEF, UNFPA and medical personnel. Read: Ghana News Agency

INDONESIA: Government Contributes to UNFPA

Asia Pulse reported November 6 that the Indonesian government has donated $50,000 to the United Nations Development Program and $33,000 to the United Nations Population Fund. Rezlan Ishar Jenie, deputy Indonesian Ambassador to the UN made the statement at a United Nations Pledging Conference. Rezlan said Indonesia has asked the UN to use the funds contributed by the country and other countries and called on the world body to focus on the enhanced quality of human resources such as education, health, government, poverty eradication and environment maintenance. Read: Antara

IRAQ: Maternal Mortality Almost Triples Since 1989

Agence France-Presse reported November 4 that the number of women in Iraq who die of pregnancy and childbirth has almost tripled since 1989 according to a new survey by UNFPA. The study found a range of causes for the sharp increase in maternal deaths, which jumped from 117 per 100,000 live births in 1989 to 310 last year. It said the breakdown in security, communications and transport have made it more difficult for women to have access to medical facilities and that around 65 percent now give birth at home, mostly without medical assistance. "The reconstruction effort in Iraq will benefit greatly from rapid improvements in the area of reproductive health," said Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, UNFPA Executive Director. "The health-care infrastructure is in place but it needs to be strengthened and updated." Read: UN IRIN, UN News Centre

JAMAICA: EU Funds Family Planning Programs

The Jamaica Observer reported November 3 that with the worrying reality that most adolescents shun contraceptives and teenage girls account for near a quarter of all births in Jamaica, the government last Friday welcomed an injection of J$100-million by the European Union (EU) into the island's Sexual and Reproductive Health program.

According to Gerd Jarchow, who heads the European Commission in Jamaica, the money will allow UNFPA to give Jamaica technical assistance, research, training, capacity building and the purchase of equipment and pharmaceutical products.

"The UNFPA will work with a number of partners, inclusive of NGOs and government to ensure that the program achieves its objectives," Jarchow said at a ceremony in Kingston at which representatives of the European Commission (EC), UNFPA, Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), and National Family Planning Board signed off on the program. Read: Jamaica Observer

KENYA: Joint Development Project for the Next Five Years

Xinhua General News Service reported November 6 that the United Nations launched a joint development strategy for Kenya for the next five years, in which the UN agencies and other partners will work together to support the east African country's development. The four United Nations agencies, the United Nations Development Program, the United Nations Children's Fund, the United Nations Population Fund and the World Food Program, have pledged to commit $219 million during the second United Nations Development Assistance Framework for Kenya for 2004-2008. The East African Standard (Kenya) also reported on this story. Read: East African Standard

MALAWI: Adolescent Girls Forced to Have Sex Do Not Seek Testing

The Chronicle (Malawi) mentioned a brief overview by UNFPA of Malawi indicated that 66 percent of secondary school youth are sexually active. The Adolescent Girls Participation Baseline Report indicates that 26 percent of the girls have been forced into sexual encounters. Early age sexual intercourse is one of the contributing factors to the spread of HIV/AIDS. A large percentage of the young girls involved in sexual relationships do not seek Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) and therefore are not aware of their status. Read: The Chronicle

PAKISTAN: International Aid for Economic Development and Health

Hi Pakistan reported November 6 that USAID has recently awarded 10 new grants totaling $90 million to help Pakistan fight poverty and bring positive changes in other areas of the society. In health, two new grants will help increase birth-spacing by offering parents a greater range of contraceptive choices and better information, particularly in the rural areas, said a U.S. Embassy news release. This program is jointly funded by USAID, the United Kingdom's Department for International Development and UNFPA, it said. Read: Hi Pakistan

THAILAND: Dr. Sulochana Krishnan Wins the 2003 Princess Srinagarindra Award

In a November 1 story by The Bangkok Post (Thailand), it announced that the winner of the 2003 Princess Srinagarindra Award is Dr. Sulochana Krishnan. The award is conferred annually upon an individual registered nurse or group of registered nurses who have made a significant contribution, through direct care, research, education or management, within the nursing profession and/or for the development of the nursing profession. The story mentioned Dr. Krishnan was invited by the WHO to serve as a short-term consultant to the government of Maldives. The four-year project had, as it goals, to develop a nursing and midwifery curriculum emphasizing family planning and to provide health services at the community level. With her outstanding achievement, Dr. Krishnan was invited to continue her service in Maldives under the UNFPA support in the two-year project of Family Planning Curriculum Development.

UGANDA: Teen Pregnancy Decried

New Vision (Uganda) reported November 4 that the Omukama of Bunyoro, Solomon Gafabusa Iguru, has decried the rising numbers of adolescent mothers in his kingdom due to the existing customary marriage practices, Fred Kayizzi and Raymond Baguma report. Iguru was addressing a delegation of UNFPA and the Population Secretariat at his Karuzika palace recently. UNFPA donated audio-visual equipment to the kingdom to educate the youth on adolescent sexual reproductive health issues. Read: New Vision

UNITED STATES: U.S. Funding for UNFPA

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI) ran November 4 editorial that noted: “Women in poor countries often become pregnant because they don't know how to practice birth control. And when these pregnancies are unintended and unwanted, the prospective mothers too often undergo abortions. It follows that one way to prevent these abortions is to make birth control information and techniques more widely available. That is what the United Nations Population Fund has been doing for 34 years –underwriting programs in population control and reproductive health. But in the name of saving lives and preventing abortions, the Bush administration actually has reduced U.S. support for the fund.”The editorial concluded: “Congress is considering legislation that would specify that U.S. government funding would be denied to any organization that "directly supports or participates in coercive abortion or involuntary sterilizations." They key word is "directly." Guilt by association –sometimes indirect association –would no longer be U.S. government policy. This corrective legislation deserves prompt passage.”Read: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

UNITED STATES: 34 Million Friends Campaign

The Star Tribune (MN) featured a November 2 interview with Jane Roberts, co-founder of the 34 Million Friends of UNFPA campaign. The interview is prefaced by: “Jane Roberts is a woman with a good idea. After President Bush decided last year to withhold $34 million Congress had pledged to UNFPA, Roberts launched a campaign to coax Americans to make up the difference. A retired French teacher from Redlands, Calif., Roberts ultimately joined up with Lois Abraham of Taos, N.M., who'd hatched a similar plan. Thus was born the 34 Million Friends campaign, which seeks to fulfill America's UNFPA pledge one dollar at a time.”Read:Star Tribune,Bowdoin Orient(BodoinCollege), Yale Daily News,The Phoenix (SwarthmoreCollege)

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