UNFPA News

The Unfinished Agenda of Family Planning

UNITED NATIONS — Funding for and attention to family planning has been declining for the past decade. At the same time, 200 million women still lack access to contraception, the largest youth generation ever is coming into its prime reproductive years and the women in poorest and least developed countries have the highest unmet need for family planning. more

Family Planning and Reproductive Health Have Fallen Off Global Development Radar ― World Bank, UNFPA

WASHINGTON—On the eve of the 20th anniversary of World Population Day, the World Bank and UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, warned that family planning and other reproductive health programmes vital to poor women had fallen off the development radar of many low-income and donor country governments and international aid agencies. These programmes, they said, were vital to boost women’s economic and social well-being, especially during the current global economic crisis, and to reduce endemic poverty and high numbers of maternal and infant deaths.
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The Global Economic Crisis and Health: Why Investing in Women is a Smart Choice

It has been a long while since I visited the World Bank so it is wonderful to be with you and with many friends here. I thank you all for coming. It is nice to be in the capitol of a country whose administration once again supports the work of UNFPA. Just last week, I met with the new United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, and it was a friendly and very warm meeting. So I can testify that this administration really does signify a new beginning.
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United Nations Gathering of Global Experts to Address Current Crisis in Family Planning

UNITED NATIONS, New York— Family planning experts from around the world warn that the lack of funding for family planning is stalling development efforts in poor countries. Countries facing large population growth are especially at risk. With populations expected to more than double in the coming decades in many African countries, declining health, increasing poverty, social unrest and inequality, and environmental degradation can be the result if current trends continue. In the poorest countries, less than 1 in 10 women are using contraception, and particularly the poorest populations do not have adequate access to family planning.
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Goodwill Ambassador Catarina Furtado Finds Progress on Maternal Health during her Visit to Guinea-Bissau

GABU, Guinea-Bissau — A year ago, UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador Catarina Furtado laid the first brick for the construction of a maternity surgical unit in this dusty town in eastern Guinea-Bissau. Last week, she attended the inauguration for the unit that her efforts had helped establish at the Gabú Regional Hospital. Opening of the surgical unit is part of a larger project to support emergency obstetric care in the areas of Oio and Gabú, with the financial support of UNFPA, the Government of Portugal and the Radio Portuguese Television (RTP). more

"I watched a woman die": The Death of a Ugandan Mother

KATINE, Uganda — On a recent trip to Katine, in north-east Uganda, I witnessed the death of a woman who haemorrhaged after giving birth. Reducing the death toll from childbirth in developing countries is a huge task, but something needs to be done — now. more

UNFPA Applauds the Adoption of a Landmark Resolution on Maternal Health

GENEVA — The Human Rights Council today adopted the resolution on ‘Preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights’. With this resolution, over 70 UN Member States acknowledge that the issue of maternal health must be recognized as a human right challenge and that efforts to curb the unacceptably high global rates of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity must be urgently intensified and broadened. more

Prescription for Global Health in the Face of Crisis: Invest in Women

UNITED NATIONS — In his opening address to his Forum on Advancing Global Health in the Face of Crisis, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called attention to the links between health and all of the Millennium Development Goals. Healthy people, he told senior government officials and international experts, are more productive, take fewer days off work, have lower birth rates and thus invest more in fewer children. more

Highlights of the Fistula Campaign 2008

The devastation of obstetric fistula affects some 2 million women across the developing world, with approximately 50,000 to 100,000 new cases occurring every year. UNFPA’s Campaign to End Fistula aims to eradicate this condition. Progress to date is summarized in a two-page preview of its upcoming annual report, “Healing Wounds, Repairing Lives”, which will be released later this summer. more