UNFPA IN THE NEWS – DECEMBER 11-17, 2004

CHILD BRIDES

A December 12 story from The Chicago Tribune (U.S.) series on child marriage noted that the most far-reaching injustice of child marriage by far, however, is probably its most subtle: It pries millions of young girls out of school. Confined to their husbands' homes, and cheated of the benefits of education, legions of demoralized children worldwide are condemned to lives of ignorance and dire poverty from which they rarely escape, and which they endure with numbed desperation. “That's the most heartbreaking thing about this issue," says Micol Zarb, a spokeswoman for UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, which monitors global reproductive health. "All the misery and pain is occurring in silence. These are just kids. They don't speak out. We never hear from them." According to the UNFPA, at least 49 countries in the world, roughly a quarter of all nations, face a significant child bride problem—that is, at least 15 percent of their girls marry younger than age 18, the widely recognized threshold of adulthood. The story also noted that for every one of the 1,200 girls who are operated on yearly for fistulas—the term for the ruptures caused by too-big babies' heads blocking too-small pelvises—there are at least 10 others left untreated. According to UNFPA some two million women worldwide suffer the devastating ailment. About 50,000 to 100,000 new cases emerge annually, perhaps 10,000 of them in Ethiopia alone. Thousands of fistula victims die untended in their remote villages. Nobody really knows the number. Read: Chicago Tribune

KILLINGS IN THE NAME OF HONOR

The Sunday Express (U.K.) December 12 mentioned that UNFPA estimates that 5,000 women and girls are murdered by family members each year in so-called honor killings. Such murders are not prevalent just in Asian communities but also in some Middle East countries, Turkey, Eastern Europe and West Africa. In Western Europe, the killings are escalating in countries where there are large, close-knit immigrant communities, such as Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands and Britain.

ARAB LEADERS INVOLVEMENT NEEDED IN POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Jordan News Agency reported December 12 that Secretary General of the Forum of African and Arab Parliamentarians on Population and Development Marwan Hmoud stressed the importance of the role of development and population committees at the Arab parliaments and shoura councils in finding suitable solutions for population issues. The meetings, which were held in Damascus, were attended by 15 shoura councils, representatives from the Arab League, UNFPA as well as other Arab and international groups.

ANGOLA: UNFPA Angola Office Releases State of World Population Report 2004

Angola News Agency reported December 15 that Angola’s UNFPA office released the 2004 report on the world population growth which contains data on health, reproduction and the efforts of countries and institutions to put an end to poverty. The report, "Cairo Consensus 10 Years After: Population, Reproductive Health and World Efforts to End Poverty," says that over 350 million of couples are in need of access to several services relating to family planning and complications with pregnancy and birth are still the main causes of deaths and sicknesses among woman. Read: Angola News Agency

BANGLADESH: Officials Warn City on the Verge of Turning into a Slum

Financial Express (Bangladesh) reported December 13 that Dhaka is likely to turn into a virtual slum unless effective steps are taken to halt the exponential population boom, Local Government Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan said at a seminar titled "Family Planning Programs in Dhaka Slums." The Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) organized the seminar with the assistance from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and UNFPA. UNFPA’s country representative Suniti Acharya and DCC’s chief executive officer M. A. Momen addressed the seminar. Read: Financial Express

BANGLADESH: Training Held on Reproductive Health and Gender Issues

The Independent (Bangladesh) reported December 12 that a day-long special training program on reproductive health and gender issues, organized by UNFPA, was held at Comilla Zila Parishad auditorium. About 40 jail policemen, imams, nurses and jail officials of Chittagong and Sylhet division participated in the training. Read: The Independent

CHINA: University Students Are Advised to Learn More about Condoms

Xinhua General News Service reported December 17 that Chinese university students should learn more about condoms to help prevent HIV/AIDS instead of blushing and refusing to talk about it, say experts, warning that the epidemic is still spreading. This suggestion was put forward in Tsinghua University at a forum with experts warning that the deadly virus has started to spread from high-risk groups, such as drug users and prostitutes, to the general population. University students, who are at an age of sexual activity, are a very vulnerable group, said Siri Tellier, UNFPA representative, at a forum held by the China Youth Development Foundation. Read: Xinhua General News Service

CHINA AND UNITED STATES: Congressional Hearing on Family Planning Abuses

Associated Press reported December 14 that despite some changes, China's one-child family-planning program remains a source of coercion, forced abortions, infanticide and perilously imbalanced boy-girl ratios, State Department officials said. Testimony before the House International Relations Committee focused on a Shanghai woman who, since her second pregnancy in the late 1980s, has been assigned to psychiatric wards, coerced into an abortion, and removed from her job. She is reportedly subject to torture in a labor camp. The Bush administration has barred U.S. funds for UNFPA, charging that the agency’s support of China's population planning programs allows China to implement its policies of coercive abortion. Read: Associated Press, United Press International, Voice of America

GHANA: Ministry of Health Sets Goals with Aid Partners

Ghana News Agency reported December 17 that Salimata Abdul Salem, acting chief director of the Ministry of Health (MOH), signed an aid memoir agreement with its partners at the end of a four-day Health Summit held in Accra. Jan Van Horst, First Secretary, Health and Gender Development Advisor of the Royal Netherlands Embassy, said with good management, Ghana could achieve the goals set for its health programs. He mentioned areas such as the expansion of information systems and improved human resources as priority areas that needed to be tackled to enhance health in the country. He urged the MOH to expedite action on improving the health provision, by translating their plans and programs into action. Copies of the documents were signed and handed over to representatives of the UNFPA, DIFID, the European Union, World Bank, the Royal Danish Embassy and the MOH. Read: Ghana News Agency

GHANA: Recent Health Counselors Urged to Help Change Behavior and Attitudes toward HIV/AIDS

Ghana News Agency reported December 12 that at the third group graduation ceremony of the three-month distance education course for 59 community-based counselors and caregivers in Kumasi, Michael Boamey, the Ashanti regional coordinator and national trainer of HIV/AIDS/STDs, called on counselors and trainers in the fight against HIV/AIDS to adopt prevention strategies that could change people's behaviors and attitudes towards the disease. He also called for support for people living with HIV/AIDS and appealed to the public, especially pregnant women, to go for the voluntary counseling and testing. The distance-training course was organized jointly by the Institute of Adult Education, University of Ghana and UNFPA. Read: Ghana News Agency

INDIA: Reward Announced for Reporting Doctors and Parents Involved in Sex-Determination Testing

Times of India reported December 12 that in a desperate measure to arrest the dwindling sex ratio of the girl child in the 0-6 age group in Gujarat, the state government is planning to institute a cash prize for those who spill the beans on any parent or doctor who takes part in sex-determination tests which lead to the abortion of the female fetus. “Law cannot work all alone. People's participation is essential and we have been urging religious leaders to take up the cause against female feticide," said UNFPA state co-ordinator Aravind Pulikkal. Read: Times of India

INDIA: Auto-Disable Syringes to Be Used in Health Centers

Indo-Asian News Service reported December 16 that India has decided to gradually bring into use auto-disable syringes, which get locked after first use, for its immunization program, said Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Panabaka Lakshmi. As recommended by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, "once the supplies become available, only auto-disable syringes would be used at government-run health centers for the immunization programs," Lakshmi said at the launch of the auto-disable syringes. Read: Indo-Asian News Service

JAMAICA: Youth Activist Calls for Mandatory “Health and Lifestyle Courses”

HardBeatNews.com (U.S.) reported December 17 that a 12-year-old Jamaican youth wants to take the battle against the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean into the classrooms. Sean Paul Ashley, an "A" student at Jamaica's Champion College, recently told the audience at the 2004 UNFPA Caribbean Media Awards on Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights in Kingston, that all educational institutions should be required to introduce courses in "Health and Lifestyles." "It makes no economic sense to spend vast sums on educating the younger generation in the sciences, computer technology, liberal arts and the professions only to have them cut down in their prime by HIV/AIDS, even before they can provide sufficient returns on the investment," said Ashley, who emphasized that health and lifestyles issues are of paramount importance and that the education system needs to reflect that. Read: www.HardBeatNews.com

LIBERIA: OCAM Educates Community During 16 Days of Activism

The Inquirer (Liberia) reported December 17 that the Organization for Children and Adolescent Mothers (OCAM) recently joined others around the world to observe the 16 days of activism on sexual and gender-based violence. At a one-day UNFPA-sponsored interactive session held in Totota, Bong County, OCAM sensitized attendees on the causes and effects of sexual exploitation and rape. Read: The Inquirer

MALAYSIA: Population Projected to Reduce to that of Spain or Argentina

New Straits Times (Malaysia) December 16 editorial mentioned that figures projected by UNFPA indicate that the population will grow to 28 million in 2015 and 31.3 million in 2025. By 2050, the country will have a reduced estimated population of 37.8 million people, roughly equivalent to the current population of Spain or Argentina. Read: New Straits Times

PAKISTAN: French Surgeons Treat Women

RIN reported December 16 that a 26-member humanitarian mission of French surgeons treated around 30 patients with various surgical disorders, at the Combined Military Hospital in Muzzaffarabad, Pakistan. “The team includes a gynecologists, urologists and general surgeons. They are here to treat gynecological problems in women, such as fistula,” Dr. Qais Mehmood Sikandar, UNFPA provincial program officer, told IRIN. Read: IRIN

PAKISTAN: Punjab Government Facing Education Challenges

The Daily Times (Pakistan) reported December 15 that low literacy, dropouts, teaching quality, the gender gap, rural-urban gap, regional disparities, low learning, management and lack of effective school councils are the challenges that the Punjab government is facing, said Shahid Rashid, the Punjab Education secretary, at the Donors Coordination Conference. UNICEF’s Dr. Maurice Robson, World Food Programme’s Aslam Khan, Department of International Development’s Nargis Sultana, CIDA’s Vicki O Koskela, UNFPA’s Dr. Nuzhat Rafique and German Development Co-operation’s Dr. Reinhard Sauer highlighted their respective organization’s support for Punjab education. Read: Daily Times

PAKISTAN: NGOs Criticized for Not Reaching Out to Rural Areas

Pakistan Newswire reported December 14 that at the 5th Annual Research Conference 2004, "Sharing Population and Development Research across South and West Asia," Federal Population Welfare Minister Chaudhry Shahbaz Hussain deplored NGOs for not reaching out to rural areas of the country, instead their activities were confined to urban areas. The conference is being jointly held by Population Association of Pakistan and Department of Sociology, University of Karachi with financial assistance from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, UNFPA, DFID and USAID.

PHILIPPINES: Population Growth Due to Migration in Six Cities

Sun Star (Philippines) reported December 16 that the 3rd States of Population Report released by the Popcom identified Zamboanga City, Lipa Cty in Batangas, Tagbilaran City in Bohol, Tagum in Davao City and Cebu City as having rapid population growth due to migration. Urban population in the Philippines in 2001 was estimated at 48 percent while surveys projected that the country will be more or less 65 percent urbanized by 2020. The proportion of urban dwellers was estimated to increase from 48 percent in 2003 to 60 percent 26 years after, said UNFPA. Read: Sun Star, ABS CBN News

PHILIPPINES: Water Crisis

The Sun Star (Philippines) December 13 story on water shortage in the Philippines mentioned that UNFPA predicts that by year 2025, two-thirds of the world's population of 6.5 billion people will suffer from shortages of fresh water for drinking. Read: Sun Star

TURKEY: Working to Improve Women’s Rights

The International Herald Tribune reported December 13 that the European Union has listed women’s rights in Turkey among the areas where improvement is needed to be accepted into the union. The story noted that on November 24 the Turkish government unveiled a comprehensive one-year campaign, run by the General Directorate on the status of women financed by UNFPA. The goal of the campaign is to convey the message to all levels of society that domestic violence is a violation of human rights. Anne-Brigitte Albrectsen, UNFPA representative in Turkey, said, “Experience in South America and elsewhere shows the breakthrough comes when governments acknowledge it is a human rights problem, not a family, internal one. This is the day a private issue becomes a public one.”

UGANDA: Condom Shortage Dismissed

The Monitor (Uganda) reported December 14 that the National Drug Authority (NDA) has dismissed reports of a condom crisis, saying the government has ordered 80 million condoms. "I can show you documentary evidence to prove that over 80 million condoms will be arriving in the country soon on the order of the government. Actually 10 million are already here," said NDA acting executive secretary, Deus Mubangizi. He was reacting to press reports that there was a looming condom crisis in the country ahead of the festive end of year season. He said when Engabu condoms were withdrawn, UNFPA donated eight batches of Korean made condoms, each with about a million pieces, to cover the short-fall. Read: The Monitor

UGANDA: Communications Strengthened between Health Centers and Traditional Birth Attendants

New Vision (Uganda) reported December 14 that Bushenyi district traditional birth attendants recently received 100 radio calls worth sh100m. The southwestern regional reproductive health coordinator, Dr. David Birungi, said UNFPA funded the program. He said 100 women were trained at Katungu Mothers' union on how to use the equipment. Birungi said the equipment would ease communication between health centers and traditional birth attendants in the villages.

UNITED STATES: Funding Withheld that Could Have Battled Child Marriage

Chicago Tribune (U.S.) reported December 13 that since 2002, the Bush administration has withheld up to $34 million a year, appropriated by Congress, for UNFPA, the largest international organization to fund family planning and reproductive health services and a major player in the battle to suppress child marriage. Read: Chicago Tribune

YEMAN: Ministry of Public Health Celebrates World AIDS Day

Yemen Times reported December 16 that the Ministry of Public Health with the support of UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, WFP, WHO and UNHCR celebrated World AIDS Day. This year’s theme was “Women, Girls, and HIV/AIDS…. Better Education and Equal Rights to Prevention, Treatment and Care.” Read: Yemen Times

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