| UNFPA IN THE NEWS – JANUARY 8-14, 2005
RELIEF AID FOR TSUNAMI VICTIMS
UN News Centre reported January 14 that UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is redoubling its efforts to meet the health and psycho-social needs of women and youth survivors from the December 26 tsunami. This week UNFPA received specific contributions of $5.5 million from Japan and $1 million from the Netherlands. “These generous amounts will go a long way in ensuring that the needs of women and youth – often ignored in the aftermath of natural disasters – are properly addressed,” UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said. Read: UN News Centre
The Sunday Mail (Malaysia) ran a January 9 column by Jaclyn Kee who wrote: "The special needs of women and girls also cannot be overlooked. UNFPA stressed that, 'among the affected are tens of thousands of pregnant and nursing women, who are especially susceptible to waterborne diseases and may require supplementary feeding, prenatal care and delivery assistance.'"
A January 8 story by The Age (Australia) reported that the UN is, indeed, doing what it can. The relief effort is the largest in its recent history, and all of its agencies have sprung to action. The story mentioned that in the Maldives, UNFPA was delivering "safe kits" to pregnant women.
The Philadelphia Daily Inquirer (U.S.) ran January 11 column by Rina Jimenez-David who mentioned UNFPA estimates that there are at least 150,000 pregnant women in tsunami-affected areas, and of these, 50,000 will be giving birth within the next three months. She asked: “How these women could give birth safely, and how they are expected to care for their newborns amid the devastation, is a question that seems to have escaped the attention of much of the world.” Her column concluded, “Whether both mother and child survive the other challenges of their post-tsunami existence, though, is another question altogether.”
Newsday (U.S.) reported January 10 that two local congressmen will travel to South Asia to survey tsunami relief efforts and review anti-terror measures at the world's largest seaport. The five-member delegation, led by Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Elmhurst), and including Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington), leaves for Singapore, where the United Nations has established a coordinating center, and will travel later in the week to Sri Lanka, where more than 30,000 people perished. The first part of the trip is being sponsored by the Institute for Southeast Asian Studies, a regional research center based in Singapore. The latter half is paid for by the Communications Consortium Media Center, which promotes UNFPA’s work. Read: Newsday
Whittier Daily News (U.S.) reported January 13 that U.S. Representative Linda Sanchez, D-Lakewood, will see firsthand a tsunami-devastated Sri Lanka next week, her office announced. She will be part of a congressional delegation that includes New York Reps. Joseph Crowley and Steve Israel, and Texas Reps. Sheila Jackson-Lee and Al Green. They will be meeting with ambassadors and heads of humanitarian organizations and assisting groups such as UNFPA, which addresses women-related issues. Read: Whittier Daily News
The Deseret Morning News (U.S.) reported January 12 that Utah’s Business Women's Forum will dedicate its January luncheon to raise money for victims of the Southeast Asia tsunami. The money will be given to the United Nations Food and Population Fund.
GAMBIA: Advocacy Project Distributes Communications Equipment to Performance Groups
Gambia Daily News reported January 10 that the UNFPA-funded Advocacy Project under the Department of Information Service in Banjul has distributed communication equipment to 17 groups of traditional communicators or theatre groups in all divisions across the country. Radio cassette players, cassettes, battery-operated micro phones and batteries, as well as a book of IEC (information, education and communication) messages, and were provided recently to facilitate IEC activities conducted under the current national population program by these groups in rural communities countrywide. Read: Gambia Daily News
GAMBIA: Site Visits to UNFPA-Funded Programs
Gambia Daily News reported January 10 that a team of officials from the National Population Commission Secretariat and UNFPA office in Banjul, as well as staff of projects funded by UNFPA, returned over the weekend to Banjul from a six-day joint monitoring countrywide trek. During the past week, from 3 to 8 January, they visited schools, theatre groups, youth centers and many other institutions and projects in the provinces which are a part of the ongoing UNFPA-funded national population program. Read: Gambia Daily News
JORDAN: Killings in Name of Honor Widespread
The Herald (U.K.) January 11 story on honor killing in Jordan noted that the international scale of so-called honor crimes is virtually impossible to measure, although UNFPA has estimated there are some 5000 a year being reported in Brazil, Ecuador, Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Read: The Herald
MIDDLE EAST: Obaid Wants Region to Be Free of Communicable Diseases
In a January 9 story by Arab News (Middle East) UNFPA executive director, Thoraya Obaid, said during her visit to the Health Management Research Institute, “It’s my keen desire to see efforts are made toward achieving a zero level of communicable diseases, especially HIV/AIDS in the region. We need to have an AIDS-free Gulf region in the future.” Read: Arab News
NIGERIA: Aid Agencies “Make Life Worthwhile” in Oru Refugee Camp
Vanguard (Nigeria) reported January 12 that during the holiday season, a team from the African Refugee Foundation visited the Oru Refugee Camp in Ogun State. Among other personnel in the camp, were a doctor, two nurses, paramedical staff, and a Red Cross building which houses the drugs as well as a warehouse for relief materials. "Government, UNAIDS, UNFPA, ICRC/Red Cross, UNHCR, all combine to make life worthwhile for us here", the Camp Commandant noted. Read: Vanguard
PAKISTAN: 2005-2006 Family Planning Program Approved
Business Recorder (Pakistan) reported January 10 that the Pakistan government and UNFPA have approved the annual work plan for provision of $6 million grant to ministry of population welfare for implementation of family planning program during 2005-06. The main goal of the UNFPA program is to improve reproductive health, lower fertility and population growth rate, child spacing and controlling sexually transmitted diseases through a mutual approach. Read: Business Recorder
PAKISTAN: Parliamentarians Informed on HIV/AIDS
The Daily Times (Pakistan) reported January 14 that Parliamentarians for Global Action, a worldwide network of individual parliamentarians, in collaboration with Pakistan is to hold the sub-regional parliamentary conference on HIV/AIDS and the health policy in South Asia, on January 14 and 15. The conference will be held with the assistance of the World Health Organization, UNAIDS, UNFPA, Aga Khan University, UN Foundation, and the Swiss, British, Canadian and Australian governments. Read: Daily Times
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO: No Rest for Retired UNFPA Representative
The Express (Trinidad & Tobago) reported January 9 that Hetty Sarjeant retired as UNFPA representative for the Caribbean region and had planned to sleep for three months and settle into life in Trinidad & Tobago. However, only days after warming to the idea of retirement, Sarjeant jetted off to Mauritius to yet another conference to represent her former employer. Read: The Express
UNITED STATES: Bush Policy Hurts Rights of Women in China
The Lexington Herald Leader (U.S.) ran a January 10 op ed by Anika Rahman, president of the U.S. Committee for the United Nations Population Fund, who wrote: As a condition of UNFPA's assistance, the government of China agreed to lift all birth quotas in 32 counties in which it collaborates with UNFPA. As a result, sterilization rates dropped from 44 percent to 30 percent for men and women, and the abortion rate declined. She concluded: “Because the Bush administration refuses to fund UNFPA's work, the president is essentially saying that he would prefer to subject the people of China to family planning that seeks to limit childbirth rather than provide them with the benefits of UNFPA's voluntary and comprehensive reproductive health care.” Read: Lexington Herald Leader
 Back to top
|
