UNFPA IN THE NEWS – APRIL 17-30, 2004

MARCH FOR WOMEN'S LIVES IN WASHINGTON

Many editorials and news stories covering the March for Women's Lives in Washington criticized Bush's withdrawal of U.S. funding for UNFPA. The Nation ran an editorial in its May 10 issue that noted: "Poor women around the world have been denied reproductive healthcare through Bush's reinstatement of the "gag rule" and his refusal to release $34 million pledged by Congress to the United Nations Population Fund (the latter decision was based on the bogus claim-disproved by Bush's own fact-finding commission - that UNFPA supports forced abortion in China)." Read: The Nation, The Guardian (UK), Pioneer Press (USA), Kansas City Star (USA)
An editorial that ran in The Star Tribune (USA) on April 25 noted: "The current occupant of the White House couldn't be more hostile to the notion of reproductive freedom. He favors virtually every proposal ever offered to make the right to choose meaningless - and has audaciously snubbed the world's women by breaking a U.S. promise to give the United Nations Population Fund $34 million in international family-planning money. The cut-off has spurred millions of unwanted pregnancies and abortions - and untold numbers of maternal deaths. The president's dreadful move has spurred the 34 Million Friends campaign (www.34millionfriends.org), now urging Americans to reach into their pockets to do for the world's women what the White House will not do itself." Read: Star Tribune
The San Jose Mercury News (USA) ran an April 25 editorial that noted: "In 2002 and 2004 it withheld the U.S. contribution to the United Nations Population Fund, about $34 million, on the specious charge that the fund tacitly supports coercive abortion practices in China. Withholding the U.S. contribution, especially when women's AIDS rates are skyrocketing around the world, is short-sighted and cruel." Read: San Jose Mercury News
Reuters reported April 23 that delegates from 56 nations joined Sunday's reproductive rights march in Washington to show their opposition to Bush administration policies they consider harmful to women in other countries. In particular, the U.S. government's decision not to fund $34 million a year for the last three years promised during the Clinton administration for the United Nations Population Fund rankled Elfriede Harth, of the abortion rights group Catholics for a Free Choice-France. "The Bush administration is not very much liked in Europe, to say it diplomatically," Harth said at a briefing with other women from the international contingent. "The rejection is not only on the international politics concerning the war, but it's on the war that the Bush administration is making on women." European nations have decided to fill the resulting "decency gap" in money for international family planning and sex education, Harth said. Read: Reuters, Inter Press Service, Washington Post, Journal News

UN POPULATION AWARD ANNOUNCED

U.N. News Centre reported April 27 that internationally acclaimed demographer John C. Caldwell and the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, a pioneer in the treatment of childbirth injuries, have won the 2004 United Nations Population Award, given each year to honor outstanding work in population activities and in the improvement of the health and welfare of individuals. The awards, announced yesterday by UNFPA, will be presented in July at a ceremony at U.N. Headquarters in New York. Each winner will receive a certificate, a gold medal and an equal share of a monetary prize. Read: UN News Centre

EAST ASIAN: Countries Gather to Discuss Family Issues

Vietnam News Service reported April 30 that representatives from East Asian nations began a meeting on April 28 in Ha Noi to discuss government policies to support families and the effect of modernization on families. The story mentioned that the forum has more than 120 delegates from Vietnam, Indonesia,Thailand, Japan, Laos,Cambodia, Myanmar, Brunei, the Philippines, China, the Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand as well as representatives from UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, ESCAP, WB, and the ADB. Read: Vietnam News Service

BOTSWANA: Workshop on Advocacy and Information Dissemination

Mmegi (Botswana) reported April 28 that United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is running a five-day sub-regional workshop on advocacy and information dissemination targeted at the agency's southern African countries' offices. The workshop, which is being held at the UN premises in Gaborone, seeks to build a local and regional capacity for UNFPA offices so that they can identify, document and disseminate success stories emanating from UNFPA funded projects. Read: Mmegi

BURUNDI: The Toll of Civil War

Panafrican News Agency (PANA) reported April 24 that the 10-year civil war in Burundi has killed about 260,000 people, the local bureau of the UNFPA says in a socio-demographic inquiry. Until now, the official estimates noted that more than 300,000 people were killed by the civil war that broke out following the assassination on 21 October 1993 of the country's first democratically elected president, Melchior Ndadaye, in a military coup.

GHANA: Youth HIV/AIDS Prevalence Rates Continue to Increase

Ghana News Agency reported April 29 that HIV prevalence rates keep on rising in Ghana with youths being the most infected despite ongoing awareness campaigns. The article reported on a three-day conference was organized by the National Youth Council (NYC) and sponsored by UNICEF, UNFPA and African Youth Alliance Ghana with attendance by youth groups from the 10 regions of the country and others. Read: Ghana News Agency

JAMAICA: Annual Caribbean AIDS Network Conference

The Gleaner (Jamaica) reported April 20 that more than 100 professionals and volunteers from Red Cross/Red Crescent societies in 32 Caribbean nations are expected to participate in the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) annual Caribbean AIDS Network (CARAN) conference in St. Ann. The story noted that among the expected speakers are representatives from the Office of the Prime Minister, the International Federation of Red Cross Health Delegate and the CARAN Chair. Chief delegates from UNICEF, UNFPA, USAID and the Ministry of Health will also be resource panel participants, the Red Cross said.

JAMAICA: Women Need Public Facilities

The Gleaner (Jamaica) ran an April 18 op ed by Dr. Glenda Simms, Executive Director of the Bureau of Women's Affairs, who noted: "A few years ago, I attended a conference convened by the United Nations Population Fund in Bangladesh. While I was there, one of the local newspapers carried an article which pointed to the impact of the lack of public facilities on women. It was noted that pregnant women and rural women who had to come to the city for one reason or another had no toilet facilities to meet their needs. The few available spaces were taken over by the men who left them in a state of disrepair and disgusting filth. No woman could venture into such environments. Not only would she be at risk of being exposed to diseases but she would be at risk of mugging and robberies in these places."

LIBERIA: Community Leaders Trained on Socio-Economic Development Issues

The Inquirer (Liberia) reported April 19 that several local government officials and traditional leaders recently received some training in socio-economic development during a workshop that was conducted in three phases by the Institute for Population Studies at the University of Liberia. The training program, organized upon the request of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was sponsored by UNFPA. Read: The Inquirer

NIGERIA: Commission Determined to Conduct Census that Reflects True Population

The Vanguard (Nigeria) reported April 19 that at the launch of the 2005 census, goodwill messages by the country representatives of the United Nations Population Fund, keynote addresses by some top government functionaries, drama presentation by National Council of Arts and Cultural Troop.

PAKISTAN: Midwives Trained to Improve Child and Mother Health Care

Pakistan Press International reported April 19 that at the regional workshop on skilled birth attendants, Federal Health Minister Nasir Khan, said that the government has launched women health project in twenty districts of the country to train midwives for improved child and mother health care. He opened the regional workshop to train Skilled Birth Attendants (SBAs) in south and west Asia organized by UNFPA in Islamabad. The minister said to improve reproductive health services thirty-four more districts will be strengthened through a new reproductive health project recently launched. "We are advocating SBAs because an SBA is very well trained to handle life-threatening situations and to provide first-aid then and there immediately, because in a short span of time, a small amount of first-aid can do a lot," Dr. Mubasher Malik, a UNFPA reproductive health adviser, said in an April 19 story by IRIN. Read: IRIN, Pak Tribune

PAKISTAN: Basic Health Education To Be Taught To Students

Pakistan News Service reported April 29 that the ministry of education would soon include the chapters and lessons to create awareness among the students against the social ills and incurable diseases. The Federal Minister for education, Zobaida Jalal, also told participants about the National Work Shop for Master Trainers on Health Education jointly organized by the ministry of education and UNFPA. Read: Pakistan News Service

TURKEY: Health Minister to Meet with Thoraya Obaid

In an April 29 story by Turkish Press, the Turkish Health Minister, Akdag said he would have a meeting with Thoraya Obaid, Executive Director of UNFPA. Akdag said that Turkey was conducting a ''Third Country Program'' with UNFPA covering years between 2001 and 2005, and noted that the biggest contribution as a part of that program was allocated to Reproductive Health Sub-Program. Read: Turkish Press

UGANDA: Government Urged to Make Preparations for Reconstruction

The Monitor (Uganda) reported April 18 that donors have asked the government to prepare in advance for the post conflict reconstruction of northern Uganda. "Post conflict strategies should be developed well in advance so that reconstruction of the region can start as soon as the conflict ends," a final report of the joint mid-term review of UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA and WFP agencies in Uganda reads in part. The report will be adopted on April 27 during the final mid-term review meeting in Kampala. Read: The Monitor

UNITED STATES: War on AIDS Going Badly

Sheboygan Press (USA) ran an editorial on April 23 that noted: "America's "war on AIDS" is going as badly as its war in Iraq. When President Bush announced a $15 billion plan for AIDS relief in his 2003 State of the Union address, it seemed like he was in touch with his "compassionate conservative" side." However, the editorial mentioned, "It still didn't make up for his 2002 decision to withdraw $34 million for the United Nations Population Fund. That fund is the world's primary multilateral provider of voluntary family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention. The $34 million represented about 12.5 percent of the funds total budget." The editorial concluded: "It's time for America to work with the international community to carry out the most cost-effective treatment for those who have contracted HIV/AIDS and to restore the U.S. share of the funding to the U.N. Population Fund, the primary agency working to keep Africans and others from contracting the disease in the first place." Read: Sheboygan Press

UNITED STATES: Powell Criticized for Decision to Pull UNFPA Funding

In an opinion piece that ran in The San Francisco Chronicle (USA) on April 29, Ronald Green urged readers to recall another instance of Powell's abrupt capitulation to the administration's neoconservatives?Powell?s July 2002 decision to halt all U.S. funding for UNFPA. Green wrote: ?He did so on the grounds that UNFPA's involvement in coercive aspects of China's population program put it in violation of the Kemp-Kasten Amendment.? Read: San Francisco Chronicle

UNITED STATES: Mother's Day Fundraiser

The Chicago Tribune's April 28 Woman News section reported April 28 that the U.S. Committee for UNFPA is launching a Safe Motherhood for Mother's Day Initiative, designed to remember the more than 500,000 women who died last year from preventable childbirth complications. For a suggested donation of $20, a Mother's Day card can be sent to someone in your name. Visit www.uscommittee.org for details. Read: Chicago Tribune

UNITED STATES: Readers Defend UNFPA's Work

The News & Observer (USA) ran a letter on April 24 by Merrill Wolf, Senior Associate of Public Information for Ipas. She noted: "Through the global gag rule, defunding of the U.N. Population Fund and promotion of abstinence-only sex education, the U.S. government also tramples the rights of women around the world. Counterproductive policies such as these expose vulnerable women and girls in some of the world's poorest countries to the risks of unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS."
The Idaho Statesman ran an April letter by reader, Carrie Melvin, that argued, "Brandi Swindell is wrong to use Generation Life to discredit organizations like the United Nations Population Fund, which provides crucial family planning resources in impoverished countries. Her dismissal of the need for such services - commenting that the world's population could live in Texas with "each family having a two-story house with a fenced yard and a dog" shows a lack of understanding of the stark problems of millions of people in third-world nations." Melvin concluded, "Whatever one's stance on abortion, we cannot link that issue to the need for family planning services in poor countries. To do so robs people of their right to provide better opportunities for themselves, their children, and their communities."

ZAMBIA: Pregnant Adolescents Return to School

IRIN reported April 22 that thirty pregnant teenage girls in a Zambian refugee camp were given an opportunity to go back to school last July in a pilot project initiated by the Office for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). As the project nears completion, U.N. agencies are likely to extend it for a further year. The initiative is being implemented by the Young Men's Christian Association as part of a UNFPA program to address the reproductive health of adolescent refugees. The pilot project was launched in Meheba in northwest Zambia, one of the oldest refugee camps in the country. "We chose Meheba because it had a very high incidence of teenage pregnancies - the highest among all the refugee camps in Zambia," UNHCR's community services assistant in Zambia, Maureen Mushinge, told IRIN. Read: IRIN

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