UNFPA IN THE NEWS – NOVEMBER 22-28, 2003

GLOBAL HIV/AIDS HITS NEW HIGH

Associated Press reported November 25 on a UNAIDS report that found the global HIV/AIDS epidemic is showing no sign of slowing despite international attempts to halt its progress and as many as 46 million people are living with the virus around the world. The story also mentioned an earlier U.N. study found that young people are increasingly responsible for the spread of HIV/AIDS around the world because of poverty and a severe lack of information and access to prevention services. Every 14 seconds a person aged between 15 and 24 is infected with the virus. They now account for half all new cases of the disease, the U.N. Population Fund said in its annual State of the World's Population report. Read: Associated Press

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Women Leaders Demand Participation 

UN IRIN reported November 26 that the government of the Central African Republic should appoint women to a male-only Ministry of Planning committee charged with vetting projects for submission to donors, said a former government minister, Lucienne Goddot, at the end of a two-day workshop for 50 women leaders. The workshop for the women leaders, organized with the help of the UN Population Fund, set up five commissions to review the problems women face. Read: UN IRIN

GHANA: Young Women Entering Marriage at Risk of Contracting HIV/AIDS

Public Agenda (Ghana) reported November 24 that young women who are married or about to enter marriage are at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. According to UNFPA, marriage does not always protect young women against HIV infection, noted the story. Read: Public Agenda

LIBERIA: How Much More Should Women Endure?

The News (Liberia) reported November 26 that UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid has called for a response to the violations of women's human rights. According to a dispatch from the agency's Monrovia office, Ms. Obaid made the call in New York during occasions marking the observance of the International Day for the Elimination on Violence against Women. "Women and girls should be safe in their homes, on the streets, in their workplaces, and in schools yet, far too many live in fear and countless others have paid with their lives", she noted. The UNFPA head insisted that there should be a "zero tolerance" of gender-based violence, pointing out that "as long as it persists, we can not claim to be making steady progress towards equality, development and peace." Ms. Obaid encouraged people to ask themselves: "how many more rapes, wife beatings and killings in the name of honor, must women endure?"

MOLDOVA: Government Orders Pregnant Women to Be Tested for HIV/AIDS

Basapress News Agency (Moldova) reported November 26 that all pregnant women in Moldova will have to get tested for HIV/AIDS in accordance with a recent order by the Health Ministry, the deputy director of Chisinau Skin and Venereal Diseases Clinic, Vasile Morcov, said at a seminar held by UNFPA.

NIGERIA: RiversState Signs Agreement with UNFPA

Daily Trust (Nigeria) reported November 27 that the RiversState government has signed an agreement with UNFPA for the state's population program. The agreement was signed by the RiversState governor, Dr. Peter Odili, on behalf of the state government while the UNFPA representative in Nigeria, Mr. Niangoran Essa, signed for his organization. The governor commended the organization’s representative in Nigeria for leading the new course in the agency's activities which involve inclusion of a 100 percent local content in the programs of the organization.

PAKISTAN: National Youth Policy

Pakistan News Service reported November 22 that a comprehensive National Youth Policy is being drafted with the consensus of experts and would be implemented soon for the welfare of youths of the country. The announcement was made by Federal Secretary, Ministry of Sports, Culture, Tourism, Minorities & Youth affairs Khalid Latif, and representatives of UNDP, UNESCO and UNFPA. Read: Pakistan News Service

PHILIPPINES: Free Concert to Launch Population Report

Philippine Daily Inquirer reported November 25 that a free concert will launch the State of the Philippine Population Report's second issue, sponsored by the Commission on Population and the United Nations Population Fund.The report focuses on adolescent reproductive health and youth issues like early and unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, abortion and drug addiction.  

UNITED STATES: U.S. Funding for UNFPA

A November 26 story by Inter Press Service reported on the $17.1-billion foreign aid package that is being folded into a nearly $400-billion fiscal year (FY) 2004 spending bill, the package also includes $550 million for the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria – $350 million more than Bush asked for. The story mentioned that UNFPA is supposed to receive $34 million, the same amount that Congress appropriated for it in FY 2002 but was withheld by the Bush administration on the grounds that UNFPA's support for China's population program violated a 20-year-old law that bans aid to any organization that supports or participates in coercive abortions or sterilizations. The administration's position on UNFPA represented a novel and controversial interpretation of the so-called Kemp-Kasten amendment. Previous administrations, including Republican ones, merely subtracted the aid spent by UNFPA in China from its total annual contribution. The Senate had voted earlier this year to overturn the policy, but Bush threatened to veto any bill that did not include it. Whether Bush will again try to prevent the 34 million dollars from going to UNFPA remains unclear. "We are hopeful but not necessarily optimistic that the president will allow the money to be spent," said Sally Ethelston of Population Action International, who noted that "delegation after delegation and report after report have all concluded that UNFPA is a force for good in China". Read: Inter Press Service

UNITED STATES: 34 Million Friends of UNFPA

In Jim Belshaw’s November 26 column, “A Big Thanks to You All,” that ran in The Albuquerque Journal, he thanked, “Lois Abraham – When the Bush administration withheld $34 million in international family planning funds designated for the United Nations Population Fund, Lois, who lives in Taos, e-mailed friends and asked them to send $1 to the U.N. organization and then send the e-mail to other people who might send in a buck. She said, ‘I thought a dollar, anybody can do a dollar.’ Unbeknownst to her, a California woman had the same idea about the same time. Their effort became the ‘34 Million Friends Campaign.’ So far those $1 donations have turned into more than $1.5 million.”

UNITED STATES: Funding for International Family Planning

In a November 24 letter that ran in The Financial Times (London), president of International Women’s Health Coalition, Adrienne Germain, wrote: “The Bush administration, careful not to offend moderate voters at home, has cultivated the right by letting ideologues dictate many social and health policies abroad, especially those affecting women. The president has blocked all US contributions to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), which is the primary source of funds in 140 countries for maternal health programs and family planning services.” Read: Financial Times

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