| UNFPA IN THE NEWS – FEBRUARY 29-MARCH
5, 2004 UNITED NATIONS: Arab Women Make Their Mark at UN UN Wire ran a March 1 story by Barbara Crossette
on Arab women in senior positions at the United Nations who could
be powerful voices for change in Arab nations and the wider Islamic
world, if more leaders would listen. The story mentioned Khalaf
Hunaidi, director of the U.N. Development Program's Arab regional
bureau, along with Mervat Tallawy, executive secretary of the
Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, and Thoraya Obaid,
executive director of the U.N. Population Fund, as women who should
be getting a wider hearing. Read: UN WIRE ANGOLA: Youth Health Center Empowers
Girls With its sparkling tiles and laboratory technicians
in spotless white coats, the Centro de Apoio aos Juvens (CAJ),
or youth support centre, looks like a clinic, but the laughter
and noisy debate sound more like a youth club or boisterous classroom—in
fact, it's a combination of all three, reported IRIN on March
5. The story noted UNICEF partners with the UN Population Fund
in running this center, 10 others in Luanda and another nine in
the southern provinces of Benguela and Huila, where youngsters
aged 10 to 24 are tested for sexually transmitted diseases, including
HIV/AIDS, and receive counseling. Read: IRIN INDIA: Film to Shed Light on India’s Decades of Female Feticide Inter Press Service (IPS) reported March 4 that
an Indo-French feature film on decades of systematic female feticide
in India called 'Matrubhoomi (Motherland): A Nation Without Women,'
is due to be released to the public later this month. IPS mentioned
that in October, UNFPA teamed up with India’s Ministry of Health
and Family Welfare and the Census Commissioner's office to publish
a booklet, "Mapping the Adverse Sex Ratio in India", designed
to improve public awareness of the problem. Read: Inter Press
Service INDIA: Children Participate in HIV/AIDS Awareness Run The Hindu (India) reported March 1
that Asian marathon champion Sunita Godara led a group of school
children who participated in the HIV/AIDS awareness run to raise
community awareness so that people are informed and become educated
to support themselves adequately. The program was supported by
UNICEF, UNFPA and UNAIDS. SUDAN: Awareness Raising Campaign on Obstetric Fistula Launched IRIN reported March 5 that UNFPA has launched
a women's health campaign aimed at raising awareness of obstetric
fistula in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. "The campaign [entitled
"We MUST Care"] recognizes that fistula by its nature is inseparable
from the issues that face women on a daily basis—poverty, malnutrition,
lack of education, early pregnancy and inaccessibility of maternal
health care," said Kate Ramsey of the UNFPA at the launch. "Each
year between 50,000 and 100,000 women [worldwide] sustain an obstetric
fistula in the act of trying to give life," commented Dr Nimal
Hettiaratchy, the UNFPA representative in Sudan, noting that fistula
was both preventable and treatable. Read: IRIN TURKEY: Interview on UNFPA in Turkey On February 29, the Turkish Daily News featured
an interview with UNFPA Turkey Representative Alain Mouchiroud
who spoke on UNFPA activities in Turkey and its achievements in
addition to the main problems in Turkey, prior to his leaving
this week for his assignment in Geneva. When asked ‘Why is UNFPA
in Turkey?’ Mouchiroud responded with 4 reasons:
“1. To provide
regional cooperation which includes promoting exchange of experience
and knowledge; in addition training of Turkish experts and encouraging
them to contribute to other developing countries and share experiences
with them.
2. To play a catalytic role in Turkey's developing
appropriate population policies. For instance the Fund engages
in efforts to build data-banks to carry out health and demographic
surveys. 3. To address emerging issues like migration, trafficking,
ageing, HIV/AIDS, adolescent reproductive Health and common diseases
like cancer.
4. To help reduce disparities which are perceived
as the main cause for many of the problems related to population.” TURKMENISTAN: UN Agencies Form 5-Year Cooperation Agreement IRIN reported March 2 that the United Nations
in Turkmenistan has welcomed the signing of the United Nations
Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), a strategic planning
document for cooperation between the government and UN agencies
for the next five years (2005-2009). “This is the first UNDAF
for Turkmenistan where the UN system has identified a common strategy
moving away from fragmented programs to a coherent framework,"
Khaled Philby, UN Resident Coordinator and the Resident Representative
for UNDP. The story noted current UNDP, UNICEF and UNFPA country
programs for Turkmenistan were harmonized and would be ending
in 2004, the UN official explained. Read: IRIN UNITED STATES: To Highlight International Women’s Day, Bush Criticized for Withholding IFP Funding To highlight the upcoming International Women’s
Day,Yale University newspapers, Yale Daily News (USA), ran a March
5 column by Sophie Pinkham, a member of the Reproductive Rights
Action League at Yale, that addressed President Bush’s attack
on U.S. and international family planning. Pinkham wrote: “The
effects of Bush's $34 million cut to UNFPA have been worst of
all. UNFPA provides hundreds of thousands of women in 140 countries
with family planning and maternal health programs.” Read: Yale
Daily News UNITED STATES: Getting 22 Million Single American Women to Vote A March 4 column by Alan Bisbort that in The
Hatfield Valley Advocate (MA) on getting the 22 million single
American women who did not vote at the last presidential election
noted that one of the many things President Bush did was withheld
$34 million in funding for birth control, maternal and child health
care, and HIV/AIDS prevention from the United Nations Population
Fund. Read: Hatfield Valley Advocate VIETNAM: UNFPA Funds Project to Improve Adolescent Reproductive Health Vietnam News Agency reported March 3 that the
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will assist Viet Nam to
implement a $1.6 million project on adolescent reproductive health
improvement. An agreement was signed in Ha Noi on by Prof. Pham
Song, President of the Viet Nam Association for Family Planning
and Omer Ertur, UNFPA Resident Representative in Viet Nam. Read:
Vietnam News Briefs
 Back to top
|
