Les partenaires en matière de population et de développement Bureau régional pour l'Afrique (BRA PPD) célèbre l'adoption récente d'un premier coup de résolution sur la mortalité et la morbidité maternelles par le Conseil des droits de l'homme sur Juin 17, 2009.
La résolution sur la "Prévention de la mortalité maternelle et de morbidité et de droits de l'homme" reconnaît que les droits de l'homme est essentiel pour les réponses nationales et internationales à la mortalité maternelle et de morbidité.
Dans cette résolution, les gouvernements ont exprimé leur grave préoccupation pour le taux anormalement élevé de mortalité maternelle et de morbidité, de reconnaître que c'est une question de droits humains, et s'engager à accroître leurs efforts au niveau national et international pour protéger la vie des femmes et des filles dans le monde entier. Il s'agit d'une critique révolutionnaire que membres des Nations unies ont reconnu la nécessité d'aborder la santé maternelle en tant que question de droits humains.
Grâce à la résolution du Conseil des droits de l'homme, les gouvernements reconnaissent que l'élimination de la mortalité et morbidité maternelle exige la promotion et la protection des femmes et des filles des droits de l'homme, y compris leurs droits à la vie, à l'égalité dans la dignité, à l'éducation, à être libre de chercher, de recevoir et de répandre des informations, de bénéficier du progrès scientifique, à l'abri de la discrimination et de jouir du meilleur état de santé physique et mentale, y compris la santé sexuelle et reproductive.
Écoutez ce que Dr. Jotham Musinguzi, directeur régional de PPD BRA, avait à dire au sujet de la santé maternelle, lors d'une récente réunion d'information du Congrès des États-Unis le 5 Juin 2009, parrainée par l'Association des centres de population, Population Action International, Population Association of America, Population Council , Population Reference Bureau, Population Resource Center, et UCLA Center Bixby sur la population et la santé de la reproduction.
Dans sa présentation, le Dr Musinguzi souligné les effets de la mortalité maternelle - la perte de vie, les droits, et productivty - et la gamme de l'efficacité et à faible coût des stratégies visant à améliorer la santé des mères et des enfants. "Quel est le message?" Muzinguzi demandé en conclusion. "Aucune femme ne devrait perdre sa vie en donnant la vie."
Pourtant, chaque année, 265.000 femmes meurent pendant l'accouchement de causes évitables en Afrique sub-saharienne.
Le PPD ARO invite États membres des Nations Unies dans la mise en œuvre de la résolution du Conseil des droits de l'homme sur évitable de mortalité et de morbidité maternelle et les droits de l'homme de veiller à ce que l'étude thématique qui sera établi sera entièrement financé et mis en œuvre dans tous les pays africains.
La résolution est disponible à: http://reproductiverights.org/sites/crr.civicactions.net/files/documents/Maternal% 20Mortality% 20Resolution% 20HRC% 20_as% 20approved_.pdf
Un communiqué de presse des Nations Unies est en ligne à: http://www.unog.ch/unog/website/news_media.nsf/ (httpNewsByYear_en) / 10DF03F4ED78BD52C12575D8004D5215? OpenDocument
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Human Rights Council Resolution on Maternal Health
The Partners in Population and Development Africa Regional Office (PPD ARO) celebrates the recent adoption of a ground-breaking resolution on maternal mortality and morbidity by the Human Rights Council on June 17, 2009.
The resolution on "Preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights" recognizes that a human rights perspective is essential to international and national responses to maternal mortality and morbidity.
In this resolution, governments expressed grave concern for the unacceptably high rates of maternal mortality and morbidity, acknowledge that this is a human rights issue, and commit to enhance their efforts at the national and international level to protect the lives of women and girls worldwide. It is a critical breakthrough that UN member states have acknowledged the need to address maternal health as a human rights issue.
Through the Human Rights Council resolution, governments recognize that the elimination of maternal mortality and morbidity requires the effective promotion and protection of women and girls’ human rights, including their rights to life; to be equal in dignity; to education; to be free to seek, receive, and impart information; to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress; to freedom from discrimination; and to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including sexual and reproductive health.
Hear what Dr. Jotham Musinguzi, Regional Director, PPD ARO, had to say about maternal health at a recent United States Congressional briefing on 5 June 2009, sponsored by the Association of Population Centers, Population Action International, Population Association of America, Population Council, Population Reference Bureau, Population Resource Center, and UCLA Bixby Center on Population and Reproductive Health.
In his presentation, Dr. Musinguzi pointed out the effects of maternal mortality—-the lost lives, rights, and productivty—-and the range of effective, low-cost strategies to improve the health of mothers and children. "What is the message?" Muzinguzi asked in conclusion. "No woman should lose her life while giving life."
Yet, every year, 265,000 mothers die in childbirth from preventable causes in sub-Saharan Africa.
The PPD ARO calls on United Nations member states as they implement the Human Rights Council Resolution on preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights to ensure that the thematic study be fully funded and its recommendations implemented in all African countries.
The full resolution is available at: http://reproductiverights.org/sites/crr.civicactions.net/files/documents/Maternal%20Mortality%20Resolution%20HRC%20_as%20approved_.pdf
A U.N. press release is online at: http://www.unog.ch/unog/website/news_media.nsf/(httpNewsByYear_en)/10DF03F4ED78BD52C12575D8004D5215?OpenDocument
The resolution on "Preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights" recognizes that a human rights perspective is essential to international and national responses to maternal mortality and morbidity.
In this resolution, governments expressed grave concern for the unacceptably high rates of maternal mortality and morbidity, acknowledge that this is a human rights issue, and commit to enhance their efforts at the national and international level to protect the lives of women and girls worldwide. It is a critical breakthrough that UN member states have acknowledged the need to address maternal health as a human rights issue.
Through the Human Rights Council resolution, governments recognize that the elimination of maternal mortality and morbidity requires the effective promotion and protection of women and girls’ human rights, including their rights to life; to be equal in dignity; to education; to be free to seek, receive, and impart information; to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress; to freedom from discrimination; and to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including sexual and reproductive health.
Hear what Dr. Jotham Musinguzi, Regional Director, PPD ARO, had to say about maternal health at a recent United States Congressional briefing on 5 June 2009, sponsored by the Association of Population Centers, Population Action International, Population Association of America, Population Council, Population Reference Bureau, Population Resource Center, and UCLA Bixby Center on Population and Reproductive Health.
In his presentation, Dr. Musinguzi pointed out the effects of maternal mortality—-the lost lives, rights, and productivty—-and the range of effective, low-cost strategies to improve the health of mothers and children. "What is the message?" Muzinguzi asked in conclusion. "No woman should lose her life while giving life."
Yet, every year, 265,000 mothers die in childbirth from preventable causes in sub-Saharan Africa.
The PPD ARO calls on United Nations member states as they implement the Human Rights Council Resolution on preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights to ensure that the thematic study be fully funded and its recommendations implemented in all African countries.
The full resolution is available at: http://reproductiverights.org/sites/crr.civicactions.net/files/documents/Maternal%20Mortality%20Resolution%20HRC%20_as%20approved_.pdf
A U.N. press release is online at: http://www.unog.ch/unog/website/news_media.nsf/(httpNewsByYear_en)/10DF03F4ED78BD52C12575D8004D5215?OpenDocument
Financement du développement dans le monde 2009 : Résumé des perspectives
La nouvelle analyse de l’économie internationale que livre la Banque mondiale décrit une situation sans précédent : chute de 2,9 % de la production mondiale et recul de près de 10 % du commerce mondial, accompagnés d’un effondrement des flux de capitaux privés qui pourraient chuter de 707 milliards de dollars en 2008 à 363 milliards de dollars en 2009, selon les prévisions actuelles.
Le rapport Global Development Finance (a) (rapport sur le financement du développement dans le monde), fait le point sur les perspectives de l’économie mondiale et explore l’approche globale qui sera nécessaire pour permettre une reprise à l’échelle internationale.
On prévoit une baisse importante de la croissance du PIB dans les pays en développement de 5,9 % en 2008 à 1,2 % en 2009. Cependant, leurs performances sont supérieures à celles des pays riches, dont la somme des PIB devrait baisser de 4,5 % en 2009. Il faut toutefois noter que si l’on déduit du total les PIB de l’Inde et de la Chine, les pays en développement, en tant que groupe, enregistrent une contraction de 1,6 % de leur PIB, ce qui représente une véritable régression en termes de réduction de la pauvreté.
Le site Internet Perspectives pour l’économie mondiale a été mis à jour et complète le rapport Global Development Finance en fournissant des prévisions détaillées, y compris pour les régions et les pays en développement. Deux régions (la région Europe et Asie centrale et la région Amérique latine et Caraïbes) sont susceptibles de terminer l’année 2009 avec une croissance négative.
Selon le rapport Global Development Finance, les pays en développement risquent d’être confrontés en 2009 à une situation très défavorable en matière de financement extérieur. Étant donné la forte chute des flux de capitaux privés, de nombreux pays auront du mal à satisfaire leurs besoins en termes de financement extérieur, estimés à 1 000 milliards de dollars.
Les flux de la dette privée et les prises de participation ne permettront probablement pas aux pays en développement, loin s’en faut, de satisfaire ces besoins. Ils pourraient connaître une pénurie de financement considérable, que l’on estime entre 350 et 635 milliards de dollars. Les flux de capitaux provenant de sources officielles, ainsi que le recours aux réserves étrangères, devraient contribuer à combler ce manque dans certains pays, mais dans d’autres, de rapides et drastiques ajustements macroéconomiques seront nécessaires.
Il faut enfin que les pays pauvres, dans lesquels la situation était déjà tendue (du fait notamment de la crise alimentaire et du carburant) reçoivent rapidement de l’aide. Ces pays ont peu ou pas accès aux capitaux privés, même lors des périodes favorables, et sont largement tributaires des donateurs pour obtenir les ressources indispensables à la réalisation, d’ici 2015, des objectifs de développement pour le Millénaire.
Qu'est-ce que cela signifie pour l'Afrique en particulier?
Production et des revenus dans la région ont été affectés négativement par la chute des prix, la baisse du volume de la demande de métal et les exportations minières, et la baisse des envois de fonds et le tourisme.
Et la note régional pour l'Afrique sub-saharienne ici: http://web.worldbank.org/external/default/main?theSitePK=659149&pagePK=2470434&contentMDK=20396439&menuPK=665605&piPK=2470429
Les données de chaque région est disponible ici sous forme de tableau: http://web.worldbank.org/external/default/main?contentMDK=20381640&menuPK=659183&theSitePK=659149&pagePK=2470434&piPK=2470429
Le rapport Global Development Finance (a) (rapport sur le financement du développement dans le monde), fait le point sur les perspectives de l’économie mondiale et explore l’approche globale qui sera nécessaire pour permettre une reprise à l’échelle internationale.
On prévoit une baisse importante de la croissance du PIB dans les pays en développement de 5,9 % en 2008 à 1,2 % en 2009. Cependant, leurs performances sont supérieures à celles des pays riches, dont la somme des PIB devrait baisser de 4,5 % en 2009. Il faut toutefois noter que si l’on déduit du total les PIB de l’Inde et de la Chine, les pays en développement, en tant que groupe, enregistrent une contraction de 1,6 % de leur PIB, ce qui représente une véritable régression en termes de réduction de la pauvreté.
Le site Internet Perspectives pour l’économie mondiale a été mis à jour et complète le rapport Global Development Finance en fournissant des prévisions détaillées, y compris pour les régions et les pays en développement. Deux régions (la région Europe et Asie centrale et la région Amérique latine et Caraïbes) sont susceptibles de terminer l’année 2009 avec une croissance négative.
Selon le rapport Global Development Finance, les pays en développement risquent d’être confrontés en 2009 à une situation très défavorable en matière de financement extérieur. Étant donné la forte chute des flux de capitaux privés, de nombreux pays auront du mal à satisfaire leurs besoins en termes de financement extérieur, estimés à 1 000 milliards de dollars.
Les flux de la dette privée et les prises de participation ne permettront probablement pas aux pays en développement, loin s’en faut, de satisfaire ces besoins. Ils pourraient connaître une pénurie de financement considérable, que l’on estime entre 350 et 635 milliards de dollars. Les flux de capitaux provenant de sources officielles, ainsi que le recours aux réserves étrangères, devraient contribuer à combler ce manque dans certains pays, mais dans d’autres, de rapides et drastiques ajustements macroéconomiques seront nécessaires.
Il faut enfin que les pays pauvres, dans lesquels la situation était déjà tendue (du fait notamment de la crise alimentaire et du carburant) reçoivent rapidement de l’aide. Ces pays ont peu ou pas accès aux capitaux privés, même lors des périodes favorables, et sont largement tributaires des donateurs pour obtenir les ressources indispensables à la réalisation, d’ici 2015, des objectifs de développement pour le Millénaire.
Qu'est-ce que cela signifie pour l'Afrique en particulier?
Production et des revenus dans la région ont été affectés négativement par la chute des prix, la baisse du volume de la demande de métal et les exportations minières, et la baisse des envois de fonds et le tourisme.
Et la note régional pour l'Afrique sub-saharienne ici: http://web.worldbank.org/external/default/main?theSitePK=659149&pagePK=2470434&contentMDK=20396439&menuPK=665605&piPK=2470429
Les données de chaque région est disponible ici sous forme de tableau: http://web.worldbank.org/external/default/main?contentMDK=20381640&menuPK=659183&theSitePK=659149&pagePK=2470434&piPK=2470429
Global Development Finance 2009: Outlook summary
A recent World Bank analysis of the global economy paints an unprecedented picture: global output falling by 2.9 percent and world trade by nearly 10 percent; accompanied by plummeting private capital flows, likely to decline from $707 billion in 2008 to an anticipated $363 billion in 2009.
The World Bank’s annual Global Development Finance (GDF) report, released earlier this week, updates the outlook for the global economy, and explores the broad approach that will be necessary to chart a worldwide recovery.
GDP growth in developing countries is expected to slow sharply, from 5.9 percent in 2008 to 1.2 percent in 2009. However, their performance surpasses rich countries, whose collective GDP is expected to fall 4.5 percent in 2009. Notably, when India and China are removed from the total, developing countries as a group will experience a contraction in GDP of 1.6 percent, a real setback for poverty reduction.
The updated Prospects for the Global Economy website that accompanies the GDF report contains detailed projections, including for developing regions and countries. Two regions— Europe and Central Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean—are likely to end 2009 with negative growth.
Developing countries are likely to face a dismal external financing climate in 2009, according to the GDF. With private capital flows declining dramatically, many countries will find it difficult to meet their external financing needs, estimated at $1 trillion.
Private debt and equity flows will likely fall short of meeting the external financing needs of developing countries by a wide margin, amounting to a gap estimated to range between $350 billion and $635 billion. Capital flows from official sources, plus tapping foreign reserves, will help fill the gap in some countries, but in others, there will—of necessity—be sharp and abrupt macro adjustments.
Finally, there is a very urgent need to recognize that poor countries that were already under strain—notably from suffering through the food and fuel crisis—should receive attention quickly. These countries have little or no access to private foreign capital even in good times, and are largely dependent on donors for the resources needed to meet the Millennium Development Goals, which have a due date of 2015.
What does this mean for Africa specifically?
Output and incomes in the region have been negatively affected by falling commodity prices, falling volume demand for metal and mineral exports, and declining remittances and tourism.
And the regional note for sub-Saharan Africa here: http://web.worldbank.org/external/default/main?theSitePK=659149&pagePK=2470434&contentMDK=20396439&menuPK=665605&piPK=2470429
Data for each region is available here in table form: http://web.worldbank.org/external/default/main?contentMDK=20381640&menuPK=659183&theSitePK=659149&pagePK=2470434&piPK=2470429
The World Bank’s annual Global Development Finance (GDF) report, released earlier this week, updates the outlook for the global economy, and explores the broad approach that will be necessary to chart a worldwide recovery.
GDP growth in developing countries is expected to slow sharply, from 5.9 percent in 2008 to 1.2 percent in 2009. However, their performance surpasses rich countries, whose collective GDP is expected to fall 4.5 percent in 2009. Notably, when India and China are removed from the total, developing countries as a group will experience a contraction in GDP of 1.6 percent, a real setback for poverty reduction.
The updated Prospects for the Global Economy website that accompanies the GDF report contains detailed projections, including for developing regions and countries. Two regions— Europe and Central Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean—are likely to end 2009 with negative growth.
Developing countries are likely to face a dismal external financing climate in 2009, according to the GDF. With private capital flows declining dramatically, many countries will find it difficult to meet their external financing needs, estimated at $1 trillion.
Private debt and equity flows will likely fall short of meeting the external financing needs of developing countries by a wide margin, amounting to a gap estimated to range between $350 billion and $635 billion. Capital flows from official sources, plus tapping foreign reserves, will help fill the gap in some countries, but in others, there will—of necessity—be sharp and abrupt macro adjustments.
Finally, there is a very urgent need to recognize that poor countries that were already under strain—notably from suffering through the food and fuel crisis—should receive attention quickly. These countries have little or no access to private foreign capital even in good times, and are largely dependent on donors for the resources needed to meet the Millennium Development Goals, which have a due date of 2015.
What does this mean for Africa specifically?
Output and incomes in the region have been negatively affected by falling commodity prices, falling volume demand for metal and mineral exports, and declining remittances and tourism.
And the regional note for sub-Saharan Africa here: http://web.worldbank.org/external/default/main?theSitePK=659149&pagePK=2470434&contentMDK=20396439&menuPK=665605&piPK=2470429
Data for each region is available here in table form: http://web.worldbank.org/external/default/main?contentMDK=20381640&menuPK=659183&theSitePK=659149&pagePK=2470434&piPK=2470429
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
PPD ARO Newsletter 2009, Number 1
1- Editorial, by Dr Jotham Musinguzi, Regional Director
There is an increasingly broad consensus among African leaders that the region must address its family planning, population and reproductive health problems if it is to build a just and sustainable future. Indeed, the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development Cairo Programme of Action (ICPD PoA) called on developing countries and donor nations alike to meet these challenges. Achieving the ICPD PoA is a prerequisite to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
PPD ARO works from within the African continent to push the reproductive health, population and development agenda. This is a critical mission. Africa still lacks adequate political will and commitment among policymakers on the benefits of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). There is still a lack of adequate understanding and appreciation among policymakers of the impact of poor sexual and reproductive health and rights on poverty alleviation and their linkages to population and development. The price of policymaker inaction is also not well-known. Thus, there is urgent need for increased political will among African leaders to be accountable for the commitments they made through the ICPD, MDGs and other regional and international frameworks for addressing SRHR. This is the impetus of the work of PPD ARO.
Over the past two years, PPD ARO has continued to carry out its programme interventions that revolve around its major strategic thrusts of advocacy and policy dialogue; networking and building strategic partnerships in the region as well sharing of experiences and good practices. This newsletter brings you news of the PPD ARO’s advocacy for reproductive health. It is my great pleasure to welcome you all to read it.
2- Working with Parliamentarians
Aware of the role they play as key stockholders, PPD ARO works in close collaboration with Parliamentarians as well as other partners to address specific objectives focusing on putting SRHR high in the development agenda.
In order for reproductive health services, including family planning, to reach men, women and young people, more resources must be made available. Parliamentarians must play their legislative, representative, budget appropriation, and oversight roles to ensure that SRHR is included in development planning and funding mechanisms and engage with government in shaping, implementing and monitoring appropriate national development policies.
PPD ARO hosted a High Level regional meeting of Parliamentary Committees on Health in East Southern Africa, 16-18 September 2008, in Kampala, Uganda. The meeting was attended by members from Parliamentary committees responsible for health from twelve (12) countries in East and Southern Africa, as well as officers from government, development partner agencies and civil society organizations.
The major objective of the meeting was to increase leadership for RH, population and development within the continent. During the meeting, policymakers were informed about the existing regional enabling policy frameworks in the field of Reproductive Health (RH), Population and Development. These include Africa Union Health Strategy; Maputo Plan of Action; and Abuja Declaration. The policymakers were also exposed to and internalized international consensuses like International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action; Paris Declaration and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well as enabling financing mechanisms like the Global Fund; PEPFAR; and SWAps. The outcome of the meeting was the Kampala Resolutions in which commitments were made to support and promote RH, population and development agenda in the region.
In the Kampala Resolutions, representatives made commitments that they will pursue for the next year. They agreed that “Parliaments must work towards national, regional and international commitments made to protect and advance the right to health and the commitment to equity in health, primary health care and sexual and reproductive heath rights (SRHR) at all levels in East and Southern Africa” including the 2000 African Union Heads of state Abuja declaration and Plan of Action and the Maputo Plan of Action (2006), which work within the framework of the commitments and plans made in relation to the Millennium Development Goals and the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).
In particular, the group noted, “the importance of implementing the Maputo Plan of Action to enhance SRHR to enable governments to achieve population goals to provide the necessary conditions for economic and social empowerment and development” and resolved to “ensure that such comprehensive SRHR services include Reproductive Health supplies (for commodity security), government funding for antiretrovirals (ARV) for adults and children, community mobilization on SRHR that involves men, especially in vulnerable communities and for adolescents and youth and education of girl children.”
And within the coming year, the group pledged to “prepare and make budget submissions that . . . Include necessary resource allocations for SRHR and for RH supplies (for commodity security)” and “obtain national population and reproductive health policies and national action plans and request report on progress in their funding and implementation.”
Mr. Joyti Singh, PPD Permanent Observer to the UN, spoke about the ICPD and the MDGs. Mr. Singh said that there are strong linkages between the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and universal access to reproductive health services in the ICPD Programme of Action (1994).
Hon. Dr. Mallinga also called upon African Heads of State to uphold their commitments to allocate 15% of national budgets to health made in the Abuja Declaration on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Related Infectious Diseases.
Ms. Jackson also called for Parliaments to popularize the Maputo Plan of Action, as “it is Africa’s own designed framework for attaining universal access to SRH and reproductive rights in Africa.”
Read more about the meeting in an earlier blog post: http://ppdafrica.blogspot.com/2008/10/resolutions-for-regional-meeting-of.html
The full resolution document is posted on the PPD ARO website at: http://ppdafrica.org/docs/ParliamentResolutionsSEP08.pdf
The full meeting report is online at: http://ppdafrica.org/docs/parliamentreportsep08.pdf
3- Meetings with Partner Country Coordinators (PCCs)
PPD Africa Regional Office has hosted two Annual Partners Country Coordinators’ (PCC) meetings for the Africa Region. The first one was held 26-29 September 2007 in Kampala, Uganda. The second meeting was held a year later, from 23-27 September 2008, also in Kampala, Uganda.
Participation by Partner Country Coordinators (PCCs) in both meetings has been over 90 percent. In addition non-member collaborating country representatives (Ghana, Ethiopia and Tanzania) and other guests representing donors, collaborating organizations and outside partners attended these meetings. The main objectives of the meetings were to review the implementation of South-South programmes by member countries, to share experiences, strengths, lessons and good practices and to plan future efforts for South-South collaboration for reproductive health and population and development.
During the 2008 meeting, capacity-building sessions focusing on advocacy, resource mobilization and leadership for reproductive health both at country level as well as within the African region were held. PCCs found the sessions useful and acknowledged that these were crucial in enhancing their work. Recommendations made from the 2008 meeting were that a country South-South taskforce/Deputy PCC should be put in place, capacity for resource mobilization both at country, network and regional level needs to be built, a communication strategy for PCCs needs to be developed and the Southern Africa Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (SARHN) and Western Africa Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (WARHN) should be re-invigorated.
4- International Forum: ICPD @15: Progress and Prospects
PPD in collaboration with the Government of Uganda organized the International Forum on ICPD @ 15: Progress and Prospects. This forum was the first of such events to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the ICPD. The forum was held in Kampala, Uganda, 24-25 September 2008 and was attended by over 200 participants. The purpose of the International Forum was to critically analyze the progress made in the implementation of ICPD Program of Action.
The Forum was formally inaugurated by H.E. Mrs. Janet Museveni, Honourable First Lady of the Republic of Uganda in the presence of H.E. Dr. Stephen Malinga, the Ugandan Minister of Health, PPD Chairperson and Minister of National Population and Family Planning Commission of China H.E. Dr. Lin Bin, UNFPA Deputy Executive Director Mrs. Purnima Mane, PPD Executive Director Mr. Harry Jooseery and Regional Director PPD ARO, Dr, Jotham Musinguzi.
Other participants included Ministers, PPD Board Members, and senior officials including PCCs, Members of Parliament, high level Representatives from donor agencies including Packard Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, Venture Strategies and representatives of international and national non–governmental organizations, resource persons and members of the academic community.
The participants at the International Forum reviewed, discussed and made recommendation on the salient issues such as reproductive health and population; HIV/AIDs; reproductive health commodity security; new and challenging issues such as climate change. After two days of intense deliberations, the forum adopted the Kampala Declaration. The declaration included recommendations to further population and reproductive health programmes and reposition family planning in the development agenda through active advocacy. In addition, the declaration called upon PPD and its members to strengthen national level support structures for planning and implementing South-South cooperation programmes and to improve networking among member countries and partner institutions.
More information is available at: http://www.partners-popdev.org/np_publications.asp
5- Additional Information:
5.1 About the Accra Agenda for Action
From September 2-4, 2008, donor countries, recipient countries, and civil society organizations met for a High Level Forum (HLF3) in Accra, Ghana to assess progress on the implementation of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and to agree to an agenda for action. The Accra High Level Forum ended with the adoption of the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) through which the international community reaffirmed its commitment to achieve progress in the implementation of the Paris Declaration and intensify efforts to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
At the end of the meeting the endorsed statement to accelerate and deepen implementation of the Paris declaration on Aid Effectiveness (2 March 2005) focused on the following:
Ownership: Development will be successful and sustained, and aid fully effective only when the recipient country takes the lead in determining its own development goals and priorities and sets the agenda for how they are to be achieved. Developing countries will set their own strategies for development, improve institutions and tackle corruption.
Alignment: For aid to be effective, partners must develop credible national development strategies, and donors must support and use strengthened local systems.
Harmonization: Donor aid will be more effective if all donors would adopt common procedures to harmonize aid delivery, including coordinating their actions, simplifying procedures, using common approaches and rationalizing the division of labour to reduce fragmentation and duplication.
Managing for Development Results: Donors and partner countries must manage and implement aid in a way that focuses on achieving results; this entails a shift in focus from inputs to the achievement of measurable outcomes. Both developing countries and donors need to focus on producing and measuring results.
Mutual Accountability: Donors and partners must be equally responsible for development results and work together to establish mutually agreed frameworks that provide reliable assessments of performance, transparency and accountability of country systems.
For more information, please refer to:
English: http://www.ppdafrica.org/docs/accra.pdf
French: http://www.ppdafrica.org/docs/accraf.pdf
6-About PPD ARO
Partners in Population and Development, Africa Regional Office (PPD ARO) was established in 2006 by the Board of Partners in Population and Development to intensify its activities in Africa by establishing a regional presence. The Africa Regional Office opened in February 2007 in Kampala, Uganda with the mandate to coordinate a renewed and concerted effort to realize the Vision of ―a continent that meets its reproductive health needs promotes the population and development agenda and thereby addresses poverty, through South-South cooperation.
PPD ARO, as part of the global South-South inter-governmental alliance, provides a platform for the promotion of and resource mobilization for Reproductive Health, Population and Development in Africa through three mission elements: 1) Policy dialogue; 2) Networking and building strategic partnerships in the region; and 3) Sharing of experiences and good practices.
An illustrated version of this newsletter is available in pdf format at: http://www.ppdafrica.org/docs/newsletter-june09.pdf Please read the version most suitable to your bandwidth.
There is an increasingly broad consensus among African leaders that the region must address its family planning, population and reproductive health problems if it is to build a just and sustainable future. Indeed, the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development Cairo Programme of Action (ICPD PoA) called on developing countries and donor nations alike to meet these challenges. Achieving the ICPD PoA is a prerequisite to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
PPD ARO works from within the African continent to push the reproductive health, population and development agenda. This is a critical mission. Africa still lacks adequate political will and commitment among policymakers on the benefits of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). There is still a lack of adequate understanding and appreciation among policymakers of the impact of poor sexual and reproductive health and rights on poverty alleviation and their linkages to population and development. The price of policymaker inaction is also not well-known. Thus, there is urgent need for increased political will among African leaders to be accountable for the commitments they made through the ICPD, MDGs and other regional and international frameworks for addressing SRHR. This is the impetus of the work of PPD ARO.
Over the past two years, PPD ARO has continued to carry out its programme interventions that revolve around its major strategic thrusts of advocacy and policy dialogue; networking and building strategic partnerships in the region as well sharing of experiences and good practices. This newsletter brings you news of the PPD ARO’s advocacy for reproductive health. It is my great pleasure to welcome you all to read it.
2- Working with Parliamentarians
Aware of the role they play as key stockholders, PPD ARO works in close collaboration with Parliamentarians as well as other partners to address specific objectives focusing on putting SRHR high in the development agenda.
In order for reproductive health services, including family planning, to reach men, women and young people, more resources must be made available. Parliamentarians must play their legislative, representative, budget appropriation, and oversight roles to ensure that SRHR is included in development planning and funding mechanisms and engage with government in shaping, implementing and monitoring appropriate national development policies.
PPD ARO hosted a High Level regional meeting of Parliamentary Committees on Health in East Southern Africa, 16-18 September 2008, in Kampala, Uganda. The meeting was attended by members from Parliamentary committees responsible for health from twelve (12) countries in East and Southern Africa, as well as officers from government, development partner agencies and civil society organizations.
The major objective of the meeting was to increase leadership for RH, population and development within the continent. During the meeting, policymakers were informed about the existing regional enabling policy frameworks in the field of Reproductive Health (RH), Population and Development. These include Africa Union Health Strategy; Maputo Plan of Action; and Abuja Declaration. The policymakers were also exposed to and internalized international consensuses like International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action; Paris Declaration and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well as enabling financing mechanisms like the Global Fund; PEPFAR; and SWAps. The outcome of the meeting was the Kampala Resolutions in which commitments were made to support and promote RH, population and development agenda in the region.
In the Kampala Resolutions, representatives made commitments that they will pursue for the next year. They agreed that “Parliaments must work towards national, regional and international commitments made to protect and advance the right to health and the commitment to equity in health, primary health care and sexual and reproductive heath rights (SRHR) at all levels in East and Southern Africa” including the 2000 African Union Heads of state Abuja declaration and Plan of Action and the Maputo Plan of Action (2006), which work within the framework of the commitments and plans made in relation to the Millennium Development Goals and the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).
In particular, the group noted, “the importance of implementing the Maputo Plan of Action to enhance SRHR to enable governments to achieve population goals to provide the necessary conditions for economic and social empowerment and development” and resolved to “ensure that such comprehensive SRHR services include Reproductive Health supplies (for commodity security), government funding for antiretrovirals (ARV) for adults and children, community mobilization on SRHR that involves men, especially in vulnerable communities and for adolescents and youth and education of girl children.”
And within the coming year, the group pledged to “prepare and make budget submissions that . . . Include necessary resource allocations for SRHR and for RH supplies (for commodity security)” and “obtain national population and reproductive health policies and national action plans and request report on progress in their funding and implementation.”
Mr. Joyti Singh, PPD Permanent Observer to the UN, spoke about the ICPD and the MDGs. Mr. Singh said that there are strong linkages between the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and universal access to reproductive health services in the ICPD Programme of Action (1994).
Hon. Dr. Mallinga also called upon African Heads of State to uphold their commitments to allocate 15% of national budgets to health made in the Abuja Declaration on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Related Infectious Diseases.
Ms. Jackson also called for Parliaments to popularize the Maputo Plan of Action, as “it is Africa’s own designed framework for attaining universal access to SRH and reproductive rights in Africa.”
Read more about the meeting in an earlier blog post: http://ppdafrica.blogspot.com/2008/10/resolutions-for-regional-meeting-of.html
The full resolution document is posted on the PPD ARO website at: http://ppdafrica.org/docs/ParliamentResolutionsSEP08.pdf
The full meeting report is online at: http://ppdafrica.org/docs/parliamentreportsep08.pdf
3- Meetings with Partner Country Coordinators (PCCs)
PPD Africa Regional Office has hosted two Annual Partners Country Coordinators’ (PCC) meetings for the Africa Region. The first one was held 26-29 September 2007 in Kampala, Uganda. The second meeting was held a year later, from 23-27 September 2008, also in Kampala, Uganda.
Participation by Partner Country Coordinators (PCCs) in both meetings has been over 90 percent. In addition non-member collaborating country representatives (Ghana, Ethiopia and Tanzania) and other guests representing donors, collaborating organizations and outside partners attended these meetings. The main objectives of the meetings were to review the implementation of South-South programmes by member countries, to share experiences, strengths, lessons and good practices and to plan future efforts for South-South collaboration for reproductive health and population and development.
During the 2008 meeting, capacity-building sessions focusing on advocacy, resource mobilization and leadership for reproductive health both at country level as well as within the African region were held. PCCs found the sessions useful and acknowledged that these were crucial in enhancing their work. Recommendations made from the 2008 meeting were that a country South-South taskforce/Deputy PCC should be put in place, capacity for resource mobilization both at country, network and regional level needs to be built, a communication strategy for PCCs needs to be developed and the Southern Africa Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (SARHN) and Western Africa Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (WARHN) should be re-invigorated.
4- International Forum: ICPD @15: Progress and Prospects
PPD in collaboration with the Government of Uganda organized the International Forum on ICPD @ 15: Progress and Prospects. This forum was the first of such events to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the ICPD. The forum was held in Kampala, Uganda, 24-25 September 2008 and was attended by over 200 participants. The purpose of the International Forum was to critically analyze the progress made in the implementation of ICPD Program of Action.
The Forum was formally inaugurated by H.E. Mrs. Janet Museveni, Honourable First Lady of the Republic of Uganda in the presence of H.E. Dr. Stephen Malinga, the Ugandan Minister of Health, PPD Chairperson and Minister of National Population and Family Planning Commission of China H.E. Dr. Lin Bin, UNFPA Deputy Executive Director Mrs. Purnima Mane, PPD Executive Director Mr. Harry Jooseery and Regional Director PPD ARO, Dr, Jotham Musinguzi.
Other participants included Ministers, PPD Board Members, and senior officials including PCCs, Members of Parliament, high level Representatives from donor agencies including Packard Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, Venture Strategies and representatives of international and national non–governmental organizations, resource persons and members of the academic community.
The participants at the International Forum reviewed, discussed and made recommendation on the salient issues such as reproductive health and population; HIV/AIDs; reproductive health commodity security; new and challenging issues such as climate change. After two days of intense deliberations, the forum adopted the Kampala Declaration. The declaration included recommendations to further population and reproductive health programmes and reposition family planning in the development agenda through active advocacy. In addition, the declaration called upon PPD and its members to strengthen national level support structures for planning and implementing South-South cooperation programmes and to improve networking among member countries and partner institutions.
More information is available at: http://www.partners-popdev.org/np_publications.asp
5- Additional Information:
5.1 About the Accra Agenda for Action
From September 2-4, 2008, donor countries, recipient countries, and civil society organizations met for a High Level Forum (HLF3) in Accra, Ghana to assess progress on the implementation of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and to agree to an agenda for action. The Accra High Level Forum ended with the adoption of the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) through which the international community reaffirmed its commitment to achieve progress in the implementation of the Paris Declaration and intensify efforts to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
At the end of the meeting the endorsed statement to accelerate and deepen implementation of the Paris declaration on Aid Effectiveness (2 March 2005) focused on the following:
- Commitment to eradicating poverty and promoting peace and prosperity by building stronger, more effective partnerships that enable developing countries to realize their development goals;
- Strengthening Country Ownership over Development by supporting developing countries to determine and implement their development policies to achieve their own economic, social and environmental goals as agreed as a priority in the Paris Declaration;
- Building More Effective and Inclusive Partnerships for Development including all actors. Such partnerships are most effective when they fully harness the energy, skills and experience of all development actors—bilateral and multilateral donors, global funds, CSOs, and the private sector. To reduce costly fragmentation of aid, donors and developing countries will work together with the Working Party on Aid Effectiveness to complete good practice principles under a country‐led division of labor.
- Delivering and Accounting for Development Results. The focus on delivering results should focus on strengthening the quality of policy design, improving information systems to assess the impact of development policy and making necessary adjustments.
- Transparency and accountability are essential for development results. Developing countries have to facilitate parliamentary oversight by implementing greater transparency in public financial management, including public disclosure of revenues, budgets, expenditures, procurement and audits.
Ownership: Development will be successful and sustained, and aid fully effective only when the recipient country takes the lead in determining its own development goals and priorities and sets the agenda for how they are to be achieved. Developing countries will set their own strategies for development, improve institutions and tackle corruption.
Alignment: For aid to be effective, partners must develop credible national development strategies, and donors must support and use strengthened local systems.
Harmonization: Donor aid will be more effective if all donors would adopt common procedures to harmonize aid delivery, including coordinating their actions, simplifying procedures, using common approaches and rationalizing the division of labour to reduce fragmentation and duplication.
Managing for Development Results: Donors and partner countries must manage and implement aid in a way that focuses on achieving results; this entails a shift in focus from inputs to the achievement of measurable outcomes. Both developing countries and donors need to focus on producing and measuring results.
Mutual Accountability: Donors and partners must be equally responsible for development results and work together to establish mutually agreed frameworks that provide reliable assessments of performance, transparency and accountability of country systems.
For more information, please refer to:
English: http://www.ppdafrica.org/docs/accra.pdf
French: http://www.ppdafrica.org/docs/accraf.pdf
6-About PPD ARO
Partners in Population and Development, Africa Regional Office (PPD ARO) was established in 2006 by the Board of Partners in Population and Development to intensify its activities in Africa by establishing a regional presence. The Africa Regional Office opened in February 2007 in Kampala, Uganda with the mandate to coordinate a renewed and concerted effort to realize the Vision of ―a continent that meets its reproductive health needs promotes the population and development agenda and thereby addresses poverty, through South-South cooperation.
PPD ARO, as part of the global South-South inter-governmental alliance, provides a platform for the promotion of and resource mobilization for Reproductive Health, Population and Development in Africa through three mission elements: 1) Policy dialogue; 2) Networking and building strategic partnerships in the region; and 3) Sharing of experiences and good practices.
An illustrated version of this newsletter is available in pdf format at: http://www.ppdafrica.org/docs/newsletter-june09.pdf Please read the version most suitable to your bandwidth.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Third EQUINET Regional Conference on Equity in Health in East and Southern Africa
Third EQUINET Regional Conference on Equity in Health in East and Southern Africa: "Reclaiming the Resources for Health: Building Universal People Centred Health Systems in East and Southern Africa"
Speke Conference Center, Munyonyo, Kampala, Uganda
September 23-25, 2009
The conference starts the morning of 23rd September and closes on the afternoon of 25th September. Pre- and post-conference workshops will be held on the 21st to the 27th of September, depending on the session.
Topics to be covered at the Third EQUINET Regional Conference on Equity in Health include:
Programme Information is online at: http://www.equinetafrica.org/conference2009/programme.php
Registration closes on June 30: http://www.equinetafrica.org/conference2009/register.php
There are also a number of workshops to be held in conjunction with the conference:
Speke Conference Center, Munyonyo, Kampala, Uganda
September 23-25, 2009
The conference starts the morning of 23rd September and closes on the afternoon of 25th September. Pre- and post-conference workshops will be held on the 21st to the 27th of September, depending on the session.
Topics to be covered at the Third EQUINET Regional Conference on Equity in Health include:
- Claiming rights to health
- Equitable health services
- Globalisation and women’s health
- Social empowerment in health systems
- Fairly resourcing health systems
- Equity in health services responses to AIDS
- Participatory, PHC approaches to health priorities
- Valuing and retaining health workers
- Building Parliamentary alliances and people’s power in health
- Policy engagement for health equity
- Trade and health
- Access to health care: addressing barriers in vulnerable groups
- "Eye on Equity" approaches to keeping a watch on equity
- Country alliances and regional networking
Programme Information is online at: http://www.equinetafrica.org/conference2009/programme.php
Registration closes on June 30: http://www.equinetafrica.org/conference2009/register.php
There are also a number of workshops to be held in conjunction with the conference:
- Communicating Research Evidence to Influence Policy - Convenor : African Population and Health Research Center; September 26 2009
- BANG – the Next Technological Challenge to Africa’s Health and Well-being Convener: ETC Group; September 26th 2009
- Participatory approaches to strengthening youth and health worker relations: The ‘Auntie Stella’ Toolkit- Convenor : Training and Research Support Centre; September 26 2009
- Health Policy Analysis- Convenor : University of Cape Town ; September 22 2009
- Experiences in Using participatory Methods for Health- Convenor : TARSC and Ifakara Health Institute; September 21 and 22 2009
- Writing Skills for Publication in Peer Reviewed Journals- Convenor : TARSC September 26 2009
- Building Health Literacy Capacities at Community Level- Convenor : TARSC, CWGH; September 26 and 27 2009
Saturday, June 6, 2009
African HIV/AIDS Program Drastically Affected by Global Financial Crisis
The global financial crisis has forced most African countries to slash their HIV/AIDS program budgets, according to a recent report by Black Star News.
Botswana, South Africa, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe are some of the countries hardest hit by the economic downturn. These countries' export revenues have dropped, severely affecting revenue flow for government expenditure on critical HIV/AIDS programs.
Program cuts have already been announced throughout the region. Tanzania introduced a 25% cut to its annual HIV/AIDS budget, and the Botswana government declared that it will not include new patients in its free antiretroviral treatment program from 2016 onwards.
Major international donor organizations are also being hit by the financial crisis. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced a $4 billion dollar budget shortfall for essential services in 2010. In addition, the group faces a $10.7 billion funding gap for the regional implementation of their Global Plan to Stop TB.
Health advocates are pressing African governments and international aid organizations to stick by their commitments to improve HIV/AIDS care, arguing that the right to heath treatment is non-negotiable.
“In the last few months, we have seen trillions of dollars spent on financial bailouts to stimulate economic recovery,” said Nonkosi Khumalo, a women's health program coordinator at the South African Treatment Action Campaign, speaking at a recent meeting of HIV/AIDS coalitions in Cape Town. “A tiny portion of this sum could have bought quality, sustainable healthcare for millions of people.”
According to the 2009 World Bank report, "Averting a Human Crisis During the Global Downturn", countries in Eastern and Southern Africa are the most vulnerable. Researchers estimate the negative impact of this crisis will affect 70% of people on ARV treatment in Africa within the next 12 months. Apart from countries such as Botswana and South Africa, most countries have limited fiscal space they can use to cushion the impact of a decline in international aid, the World Bank says.
The complete article "Global Financial Woes Roil AIDS Fight" by Sifelani Tsiko can be found here: http://blackstarnews.com/news/126/ARTICLE/5724/2009-05-28.html
The World Bank has more information on the impacts of the Global Financial Crisis at: http://www.worldbank.org/html/extdr/financialcrisis/
Update, 23 June 2009:
World Bank Report Predicts Contracting Global Economy Will Hurt Poorest Countries
The World Bank released a report Monday, projecting "a 2.9 percent contraction in global GDP this year, as rich countries contract by 4.5 percent," the Wall Street Journal reports. "The crisis of the past two years is having dramatic effects on capital flows to developing countries, and the world appears to be entering an era of lower growth," World Bank Chief Economist Justin Lin said (Burns, Wall Street Journal, 6/22).
The report -- which was issued at a conference in Seoul, South Korea -- forecasts more dire predictions than those the World Bank made just months ago and contrasts with the views of "its sister organization, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ... which is forecasting a global contraction of only 1.3 percent this year and growth of 2.4 percent in 2010," Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times reports. "[W]hile a global recovery may begin this year, impoverished economies will lag behind rich nations in benefiting," the newspaper writes. "The lender called for 'bold' actions to hasten a rebound and said the prospects for securing aid for the poorest countries were 'bleak'" (Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times, 6/22).
CNN reports, "Developing countries will be hit hard by falls in private investment ... seeing nearly $1 trillion less in foreign investment this year than they did two years ago" (CNN, 6/22). "The real challenge is going to be to manage going through this period of very slow growth, to keep government programs that are critical for longer term growth (infrastructure, health and education policies)," Andrew Burns, acting manager of the World Bank's Global Trends Team, told VOA News. Burns said that in response to the growing need, the World Bank "is stepping up lending to the region" -- with plans to lend about "$33 billion this year and next year" (DeCapua, VOA News, 6/22).
Botswana, South Africa, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe are some of the countries hardest hit by the economic downturn. These countries' export revenues have dropped, severely affecting revenue flow for government expenditure on critical HIV/AIDS programs.
Program cuts have already been announced throughout the region. Tanzania introduced a 25% cut to its annual HIV/AIDS budget, and the Botswana government declared that it will not include new patients in its free antiretroviral treatment program from 2016 onwards.
Major international donor organizations are also being hit by the financial crisis. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced a $4 billion dollar budget shortfall for essential services in 2010. In addition, the group faces a $10.7 billion funding gap for the regional implementation of their Global Plan to Stop TB.
Health advocates are pressing African governments and international aid organizations to stick by their commitments to improve HIV/AIDS care, arguing that the right to heath treatment is non-negotiable.
“In the last few months, we have seen trillions of dollars spent on financial bailouts to stimulate economic recovery,” said Nonkosi Khumalo, a women's health program coordinator at the South African Treatment Action Campaign, speaking at a recent meeting of HIV/AIDS coalitions in Cape Town. “A tiny portion of this sum could have bought quality, sustainable healthcare for millions of people.”
According to the 2009 World Bank report, "Averting a Human Crisis During the Global Downturn", countries in Eastern and Southern Africa are the most vulnerable. Researchers estimate the negative impact of this crisis will affect 70% of people on ARV treatment in Africa within the next 12 months. Apart from countries such as Botswana and South Africa, most countries have limited fiscal space they can use to cushion the impact of a decline in international aid, the World Bank says.
The complete article "Global Financial Woes Roil AIDS Fight" by Sifelani Tsiko can be found here: http://blackstarnews.com/news/126/ARTICLE/5724/2009-05-28.html
The World Bank has more information on the impacts of the Global Financial Crisis at: http://www.worldbank.org/html/extdr/financialcrisis/
Update, 23 June 2009:
World Bank Report Predicts Contracting Global Economy Will Hurt Poorest Countries
The World Bank released a report Monday, projecting "a 2.9 percent contraction in global GDP this year, as rich countries contract by 4.5 percent," the Wall Street Journal reports. "The crisis of the past two years is having dramatic effects on capital flows to developing countries, and the world appears to be entering an era of lower growth," World Bank Chief Economist Justin Lin said (Burns, Wall Street Journal, 6/22).
The report -- which was issued at a conference in Seoul, South Korea -- forecasts more dire predictions than those the World Bank made just months ago and contrasts with the views of "its sister organization, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ... which is forecasting a global contraction of only 1.3 percent this year and growth of 2.4 percent in 2010," Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times reports. "[W]hile a global recovery may begin this year, impoverished economies will lag behind rich nations in benefiting," the newspaper writes. "The lender called for 'bold' actions to hasten a rebound and said the prospects for securing aid for the poorest countries were 'bleak'" (Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times, 6/22).
CNN reports, "Developing countries will be hit hard by falls in private investment ... seeing nearly $1 trillion less in foreign investment this year than they did two years ago" (CNN, 6/22). "The real challenge is going to be to manage going through this period of very slow growth, to keep government programs that are critical for longer term growth (infrastructure, health and education policies)," Andrew Burns, acting manager of the World Bank's Global Trends Team, told VOA News. Burns said that in response to the growing need, the World Bank "is stepping up lending to the region" -- with plans to lend about "$33 billion this year and next year" (DeCapua, VOA News, 6/22).
UNAIDS and World Bank Release Report Detailing an Interconnectedness Between Prevention Efforts and Transmission
A recently released report from UNAIDS and the World Bank finds that national HIV prevention strategies are not reaching at risk groups in at least 5 African Countries. The study was conducted from 2007 to 2008 and focused on determining where most HIV cases were occurring in each country, and whether these statistics were a result of inadequate prevention programs or under-funding issues.
If national HIV prevention strategies are to succeed, countries must first understand the character and drivers of their epidemic and focus on effective interventions. Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland and Uganda were all determined to have inadequate HIV prevention strategies, and the report determined that this was in large part due to the failure of prevention initiatives to address the most common forms of transmission. For example, in Lesotho most new infections occur because of concurrent sexual relationships, both before and after marriage, but the prevention efforts in this country tend to focus on unsafe sex with multiple partners instead of prevention methods for those in long term monogamous relationships. Mozambique presents another example of the interconnectedness between prevention and transmission of the disease. An estimated 19% of new HIV infections are transmitted as a result of commercial sex work, but Mozambique has very few programs that target the specific category of sex workers.
In the wake of the current financial crisis, many African countries' budgets have been drastically reduced, and essential programs have been cut. In many of the surveyed countries, spending on HIV prevention has dropped, leading countries to concentrate their efforts on general prevention, instead of targeting specific at risk groups. In Lesotho, only 13% of the national HIV/AIDS budget is spent on prevention, and these efforts may not even be completely effective. Even though budget spending is being cut, an emphasis must be placed on prevention programs in order to address the problem from the beginning. If prevention efforts are stepped up, the country will have to deal with fewer cases, which means less funding for medical treatments and other problems associated with high infection rates in society. There is often a mismatch between HIV prevention efforts and the actual factors driving new infections, which can lead to significant resources being invested in programmes of limited effect. In order to reach those most at risk, spending must be focused on effective spending efforts.
The report also provided recommendations for those countries surveyed on how to better implement evidence-based prevention efforts. Based on collective evidence, the report determined that Lesotho should revise its prevention messages to address multiple concurrent partnerships and integrate the subject into future initiatives, and Mozambique should focus condom promotion on groups such as sex workers.
To read other country specific recommendations, you can access the report in its entirety at: http://www.unaids.org/en/KnowledgeCentre/Resources/FeatureStories/archive/2009/20090512_UNAIDS_WB_epi.asp
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Online Forum: FP and HIV Service Integration: Experiences and Evidence
Online Forum: June 1-5, 2009
Register for free at http://my.ibpinitiative.org/public/fphivintegration
Please join us in a global discussion forum on family planning (FP) and HIV service integration. This forum will review the experiences of, and evidence for, integrating FP and HIV services. Share your experiences, challenges, and lessons learned, and pose questions and discuss with experts including:
*Rose Wilcher, Senior Technical Officer, Family Health International
*Betty Farrell, Senior Technical Advisor for Integration, EngenderHealth
*Heidi Reynolds, Senior Technical Specialist HIV/AIDS, MEASURE Evaluation
To register, go to http://my.ibpinitiative.org/public/fphivintegration and click on “register” in the upper left corner of the screen and fill in the required information. If you are already a member of the FP/HIV Integration Community in the Implementing Best Practices (IBP) Knowledge Gateway, click “login” in the upper left corner of the screen. Questions? Send an e-mail to info@ibpinitiative.org.
During the week long forum, you will receive no more than two emails per day; one email to introduce the day’s topic and questions and one daily digest, with all contributions screened and presented as a single, well-organized digest. You will be able to participate in the forum simply by responding to this daily digest via e-mail or by logging into the IBP Knowledge Gateway at http://my.ibpinitiative.org/public/fphivintegration.
This online discussion is sponsored by Family Health International (FHI), EngenderHealth, MEASURE Evaluation, and the Knowledge for Health (K4H) Project, based at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs in collaboration with the Implementing Best Practices (IBP) in Reproductive Health Initiative and WHO.
Register for free at http://my.ibpinitiative.org/public/fphivintegration
Please join us in a global discussion forum on family planning (FP) and HIV service integration. This forum will review the experiences of, and evidence for, integrating FP and HIV services. Share your experiences, challenges, and lessons learned, and pose questions and discuss with experts including:
*Rose Wilcher, Senior Technical Officer, Family Health International
*Betty Farrell, Senior Technical Advisor for Integration, EngenderHealth
*Heidi Reynolds, Senior Technical Specialist HIV/AIDS, MEASURE Evaluation
To register, go to http://my.ibpinitiative.org/public/fphivintegration and click on “register” in the upper left corner of the screen and fill in the required information. If you are already a member of the FP/HIV Integration Community in the Implementing Best Practices (IBP) Knowledge Gateway, click “login” in the upper left corner of the screen. Questions? Send an e-mail to info@ibpinitiative.org.
During the week long forum, you will receive no more than two emails per day; one email to introduce the day’s topic and questions and one daily digest, with all contributions screened and presented as a single, well-organized digest. You will be able to participate in the forum simply by responding to this daily digest via e-mail or by logging into the IBP Knowledge Gateway at http://my.ibpinitiative.org/public/fphivintegration.
This online discussion is sponsored by Family Health International (FHI), EngenderHealth, MEASURE Evaluation, and the Knowledge for Health (K4H) Project, based at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs in collaboration with the Implementing Best Practices (IBP) in Reproductive Health Initiative and WHO.
Private-public partnerships: Can an additional $75 billion in aid be raised?
A fashion heiress and a Nobel Prize-winning economist make seem like an unlikely duo when it comes to addressing global aid funding, but Renu Mehta and James Mirrlees are ready with a plan based on a renewed partnership between the private and public sector. Renu Mehta is the daughter of an Indian textile magnate, and her socialite status has allowed her to gain the support of billionaires, supermodels and pop stars in initiating her global aid plan. Mehta's partner, James Mirrlees, is a Scottish economist who won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1996 for his fundamental contribution to the economic theory of incentives under asymmetric information. Together, these two plan to launch the Mehta-Mirrlees plan at a meeting of the 8 industrialized nations in Italy this July.
Each year, governments are committed to donate 0.7% of their gross national income to help meet the 8 Millennium Development Goals. However, in 2007 only Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden were able to meet this commitment. Other countries' contributions were significantly behind. Collectively, all members of the United Nations were only able to deliver 0.3% of their gross national incomes (approximately $103.7 billion). The Mehta-Mirrlees plan aims to bolster U.N. donations by calling on the 8 industrialized nations to match private donations with state aid. That would mean, that for every $100 pledged by the private sector, the government of the donor country would agree to add a matching $100 from existing state budgets. Speaking of her and Mirrlees intentions, Mehta states that the best way to address meeting MDG targets " is [to] come up with a new model, find a new way to meet these targets, on the one hand. On the other hand, we need to make sure that the money is deployed to the maximum effectiveness."
Despite the global economic crisis, if the plan is put into action, Mirrlees and Mehta estimate that it could raise more than $75 billion in funding, as the plan provides a greater incentive for donors as they know that their donation will be matched. Funds generated would be dealt with by a newly created private-public organization that would oversee how donations were spent and ensure spending met the private sector's performance expectations.
While the Mehta-Mirrlees plan has drawn support from the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, many others are skeptical about giving too much power and influence to the wealthy private sector. Richard Murphy, director of Tax Research LLP speaks on the issue of ethics, stating that, "Just because you're rich and you give to charity doesn't mean you necessarily make better decisions." If we allow private donations, these individuals are going to want a voice in how their money is spent, and their views may often conflict with what is best for a countries personal foreign policy. For example, if a private company that specializes in antiretroviral drugs dictates that their donations must only be spend on HIV/AIDS programmes, the other 7 Millennium Goals will fall behind due to agendas dictated by wealthy donors. Another problem that skeptics of the plan point out is the problem with offshore banking. When governments match donations, the funds would be generated from assets held in offshore tax havens, and due to the recent crackdown on such accounts, many are skeptical of whether aid agencies would be willing to even accept this money. Instead, if officials forced the shifting of funds in offshore accounts into taxed accounts back home, $250 billion could be raised annually, which is more than five times the money needed by governments to meet the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals.
While their innovation is applauded by many, the Mehta-Mirrlees plan still has a few problems that need to be smoothed out before being presented at the G8 Summit this July. If accepted, this plan could be a huge contribution to the Millennium Development Goals, and would hopefully put the world back on track for achieving all target goals by 2015.
To read the original AP article, "Fashion heiress, economist push foreign aid plan," please visit: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gFBOWimtt_06Cdt6tT_bD8f_wHRwD98CAQ8O0
New Resources for Developing Presentations and Training Opportunities for Reproductive Health
The Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP) is now offering two free services to students, faculty and professionals interested in reproductive health, The Global Opportunities Tool (GO Tool) and the Curricula Organizer for Reproductive Health Education (CORE).
The Curricula Organizer for Reproductive Health Education is an open access tool for those interested in building scientific presentations on reproductive health topics. All learning materials are clinically accurate, up to date, peer reviewed and presentation-ready. You can choose to search materials using your own keywords or browse the material by category. When searching under the category "contraception" I found more than 430 individual slides, 40 activities and handouts, and 11 full presentations. The site makes it easy to pull an individual slide to contribute to your own presentation, or to download a fully completed, ready to use presentation. New content is added weekly, and you can request to join their mailing list to stay up to date on the latest CORE material.
The Global Opportunities Tool is a comprehensive resource that connects students in health professions to domestic and international reproductive health training opportunities. You can search available openings by clicking on the continent you are interested in working in, and available positions will present themselves. As of now, only a few countries have available opportunities outside of America, but there is also a component of the site which allows users to submit an opportunity, and I expect that this database will soon become much more extensive.
Both the GO Tool and CORE are great resources for health professionals interested in reproductive health, and I would highly recommend that anyone interested check out their site.
The GO Tool: http://www.arhp.org/publications-and-resources/student-and-educator-resources/global-opportunities-tool
Maternal Mortality at the World Health Assembly
The 62nd session of the World Health Assembly took place in Geneva, from 18 May- 22 May. Although the recent flu pandemic dominated the discussions, monitoring the achievements of the health-related Millennium De
velopment Goals was also on the agenda. Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, and Sarah Brown, the wife of British prime Minister Gordon Brown, delivered passionate speeches that emphasized the necessity of dealing with global progress toward MDG 5, reducing maternal mortality.
velopment Goals was also on the agenda. Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, and Sarah Brown, the wife of British prime Minister Gordon Brown, delivered passionate speeches that emphasized the necessity of dealing with global progress toward MDG 5, reducing maternal mortality.Ban Ki-moon's speech "slammed the world's progress on lowering the maternal mortality rate" stating that of all the Millennium Development Goals, this is the slowest moving. He continued on to say that "maternal health is a key barometer of a functioning health system," and without making significant strides to reduce maternal mortality, hope for other health related progress, such as fighting HIV/AIDS, is limited. In the final moments of his passionate speech Ki-moon stated that, "In the 21st century, no woman should have to give her life to give life," maternal mortality must be quickly prioritized in order to stop the magnitude of avoidable deaths. Even in the face of one of the worlds worst financial crisis, we cannot scale back or stop our efforts in such an important area of health.
Sarah Brown addressed the World Health Assembly with an equally passionate speech. Speaking not as a researcher or a scientist, but rather as a mother, Sarah Brown was quick to point out that "there is no excuse for the fact that pregnancy and childbirth worldwide kill 529,000 women and leave one million children without a mother each year." With an emphasis on the incredibly high statistics of sub-Saharan Africa, Mrs. Brown made it clear that something must be done to save these women's lives, "We have the science, the technology, the medicine, the knowledge, the cultural understanding, the means to educate and inform and if we are moved to act, then let us show we have not only the compassion but the moral commitment and the political will too." Sarah Brown also pointed out the consequences of not acting for the children of these mothers. "When one mother survives a lot survives with her. A mother’s survival is the key to her baby’s welfare and often her baby’s life." With that in mind, it appears that not addressing maternal mortality hurts not only the 529,000 mothers who die each year, but also their children. By promoting effective reproductive health, a child's life will begin positively, and by having a mother to look to for advice and guidance, it is PPD's belief that combating maternal mortality will lead to a better life, and a better role in society for both mother and child.
In conjunction with the World Health Assembly, IRIN, a humanitarian news and analysis project released updates on maternal health in Chad, Zimbabwe and Ghana. In Chad, one of the world's most dangerous places to give birth, UNICEFS efforts to step up obstetric care are examined, in order to better prepare for emergencies. IRIN's report on Zimbabwe shows an increasing trend of maternal deaths, due to understaffed clinics, equipment shortages, and poverty. In regards to Ghana, attention to family planning, skilled attendance, comprehensive abortion care, as well as adolescent health care are necessary in order to combat the increasing rate of maternal mortality present.
The Millennium Development Goals were instituted in 2000, but without much progress since then, recent meetings and events have seen more passionate speeches and dire requests than ever before. Prominent leaders such as Ban Ki-moon and Sarah Brown are instrumental in raising awareness of MDG 5, but without government cooperation and implementation of effective programmes, the target goals will never be met. We have the means, now we must show we have the political commitment and the compassion for women around the world.
To Watch Ban Ki-moons speech, visit: http://video.who.int/streaming/wha62/wha62_unsg_speech.wmv
Or, to read the text version, of his WHA address, visit: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/events/2009/wha62/secretary_general_speech_20090519/en/index.html
To watch Sarah Brown's speech, visit: http://video.who.int/streaming/wha62/wha62_brown_speech.wmv
Or, to read the text version of her WHA address, visit: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/events/2009/wha62/sarah_brown_speech_20090519/en/index.html
Also on the subject of maternal mortality, the NY Times recently published an article focused on maternal mortality. Entitled, "Where Life's Start is a Deadly Risk," the article provides some interesting insights and an even more fascinating image portfolio of childbirth in Tanzania. To check it out, visit: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/health/24birth.html?_r=1
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