World Population Day- 11 July 2009

The 20th World Population Day will be celebrated on 11 July with focus on women and the economic crisis, with the theme “Fight Poverty: Educate Girls: Investing in Women is a Smart Choice.”

Partners in Population and Development Africa Regional Office (PPD ARO) celebrates World Population Day with PPD member countries and calls on all donor and developing countries to fulfill their promises to women.

In these times of global economic crisis, our families, communities and nation face increasingly difficult decisions about how to spend scarce financial resources. We hear dismal statistics repeated in the newspapers and online: the economy of developed countries (measured by GDP) is predicted to fall 4.5% in 2009 and world trade will fall nearly 10%. It is widely known that donor countries’ official development aid (ODA) is reduced when their economies face turmoil.

What started as a financial issue of the US and Europe is now clearly a global crisis that is hitting Africa hard. It is already affecting our progress toward reducing poverty. Developing countries are negatively impacted in the economic crisis because of our reliance on remittances from family overseas and official development aid (ODA) for national budget support.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director, Thoraya Ahmed Obaid underscores that during these times of global economic crisis, decision-makers have to increase resources for reproductive health, including family planning. "We can make greater progress for women and families. There is no smarter investment, with such high economics and social returns, than investing in the health and rights of adolescent girl and women."

And the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon stated that “investing in women’s health, especially reproductive health, can not only save the lives of half a million mothers, but also unleash an estimated $15 billion in productivity each year. . . Together, let us advance the rights of women and girls, and empower them as highly productive members of society capable of contributing to economic recovery and growth. There can be no better investment on this day or any other.”

For more information and resources, please see http://www.unfpa.org/wpd/2009/en/


Combattez la Pauvrete: Eduquez vos Filles
Investir dans les femmes est un choix avise
Nul ne sait encore quelle ampleur atteindra la présente crise économique mondiale. Nous savons que les femmes et les enfants des pays en développement supporteront le plus gros de son impact. Ce qui a commencé comme une crise financière dans les pays riches s'élargit maintenant en une crise économique mondiale qui frappe durement les pays en développement. Elle affecte déjà les progrès réalisés vers la réduction de la pauvreté.

Les politiques décidées en réponse à la crise qui s'inspirent du rôle des femmes en tant qu'agents économiques peuvent faire beaucoup pour atténuer les effets de la crise sur le développement, surtout parce que les femmes, plus que les hommes, investissent leurs gains dans la santé et l'éducation de leurs enfants. Il faut investir dans la santé publique, l'éducation, les soins aux enfants et les autres services sociaux. Cela atténue l'impact de la crise sur la famille entière et augmente la productivité au profit d'une économie plus saine.

Protéger les avancées réalisées
Les investissements dans l'éducation et la santé des femmes et des filles ont été liés à des augmentations de la productivité, des rendements agricoles et du revenu national — qui tous contribuent à la réalisation des OMD. Les investissements de cette nature faits par les gouvernements dans le monde entier ont augmenté les taux d'inscription scolaire, diminué l'écart entre les sexes dans l'éducation, apporté aux personnes atteintes du sida des médicaments qui les sauvent, étendu la prévention du VIH, fourni des moustiquaires pour prévenir le paludisme et amélioré la santé infantile grâce à l'immunisation.

Pour plus d'informations et de ressources, s'il vous plaît voir http://www.unfpa.org/wpd/2009/fr/index.html

Recent gains in eradicating hunger and poverty endangered by economic and food crises

The Millennium Development Goals Report 2009 was released on 6 July 2009.

The report finds that more than halfway to the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), major advances in the fight against poverty and hunger have begun to slow or even reverse as a result of the global economic and food crises.

The assessment also warns that, despite many successes, overall progress has been too slow for most of the targets to be met by 2015.

Progress Needs to be Accelerated in Africa
The proportion of the population in sub-Saharan Africa living below the World Bank’s new international poverty line of $1.25 a day decreased from 55.7 per cent in 1990 to 50.3 per cent in 2005 – showing some progress, but far from the pace needed to reach the over-arching Millennium Development Goal of halving the rate of poverty by 2015, according to a just-released UN report.

Because of population growth, the number of people in sub-Saharan Africa living in extreme poverty actually grew by 100 million over this period.

The Millennium Development Goals Report 2008 provides statistical evidence of the progress that sub-Saharan Africa has made in addressing the multiple dimensions and causes of this extensive poverty.

As a sign of potentially better prospects in the future, the region’s total net enrolment ratio in primary education increased from 54 to 58 per cent between 1991 and 2000, and then accelerated to 71 per cent in 2006. Girls account for an increasing share of this total, with the gender parity index rising from 83 per cent in 1991 to 85 per cent in 2000 and 89 per cent in 2006. Despite these improvements, the region will have to intensify its efforts if it is to achieve the Goal of universal primary education by 2015 and the target of primary school gender equality, originally set for 2005. At the secondary level, there has been a slight deterioration in the gender parity ratio, with the number of girls enrolled falling from 82 per cent of the number of boys in 2000 to 80 per cent in 2006.

The UN report also points to accelerated, but narrow and insufficient improvements on the health front. Most notably, primarily thanks to the increasing availability of anti-retroviral drugs, the number of deaths from AIDS has halted its seemingly inexorable increase. The corollary is that, because infected people now survive longer, the number of those living with the disease continues to increase. Among these, the majority are women, who now account for almost 60 per cent of those with the disease in the region.

The proportion of people living with HIV who need treatment and are receiving antiretroviral therapy rose from 21 to 30 per cent between 2006 and 2007, mostly thanks to the substantial amount of public and private external funding provided for this purpose. Here again, despite the progress, there remain some 5 million people in the region who do not have access to the therapy they require.

The lack of health care services is among the factors that contribute to the high number of deaths of children under five years of age. From 184 deaths per 1000 births in 1990, infant mortality fell to 157 in 2007, but this remains almost twice the figure for Southern Asia, the region with the second highest rate.

There was almost no improvement in the region’s very high rate of maternal mortality between 1990 and 2005. A woman in sub-Saharan Africa has a 0.9 per cent chance of dying as a result of pregnancy or childbirth, again roughly more than twice the rate of the second-highest region, Southern Asia. A major reason is that, in 2006, less than half of all mothers-to-be were attended to by skilled health care personnel when giving birth. The intolerably high maternal mortality rate highlights the need for expanded and improved basic health services throughout the region, particularly in the rural areas.

The extent to which women are able to contribute to and benefit from development in the region has been increasing. Women accounted for 31 per cent of non-agricultural wage employment in 2006, compared to 25 per cent in 1990. But women are confined to the more unstable and insecure jobs: more than 80 per cent of women who work are self-employed or unpaid family workers. In terms of political participation, female representation in parliaments has more than doubled since 1990 and, at 17.3 per cent, is higher than the overall average in the developing world.

Full text of the Report (English) : http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG%20Report%202009%20ENG.pdf
Press Release (English) : http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/news.shtml
Data used to prepare the report: http://mdgs.un.org.

Rapport 2009 sur les objectifs du Millénaire
Les crises économiques et alimentaires mettent en péril les récentes avancées dans le domaine de l’éradication de la faim et de la pauvreté, révèle un rapport de l’ONU. Le Secrétaire général de l'ONU appellent les pays richent et pauvres à intensifier leurs efforts et à respecter les engagements en matière d'aide.

Alors qu’il reste moins de la moitié du chemin à parcourir avant la date butoir de 2015 pour la réalisation des objectifs du Millénaire pour le développement, les grands progrès dans la lutte contre la pauvreté et la faim commencent à ralentir, voire à s’inverser à cause des crises économiques et alimentaires mondiales, révèle un rapport sur le sujet publié par les Nations Unies.

Cette évaluation, que le Secrétaire général de l’ONU Ban Ki-moon a rendue publique à Genève, prévient qu’en dépit de nombreux succès, les progrès ont été trop lents dans l’ensemble pour atteindre la plupart des cibles fixées pour 2015.

Rapport 2009 - texte complet: http://www.un.org/french/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG%20Report%202009%20FR.pdf

Résolution du Conseil des droits de l'homme sur la santé maternelle

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

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

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).

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

Governments Declare Maternal Mortality a Human Rights Violation

In March this year, 83 Governments issued a joint statement to the United Nations Human Rights Council. Expressing concern over the unacceptably high number of women who die each year due to pregnancy related complications, the delegation urged the Human Rights Council to declare maternal mortality a human rights violation.

Each year more than 500,000 women die from pregnancy or childbirth. Most of these deaths could be prevented, and by not doing so, such inaction clearly constitutes a human rights violation. A women's right to health, life, education, dignity, access to information and appropriate healthcare are violated each and every time a preventable death occurs, and this is completely unacceptable. Reaffirming the importance of The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Millennium Development Goal 5, The Beijing Declaration and The International Conference on Population and Development, the delegation demanded a recommitment to such global obligations.

MDG 5 aims to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three quarters, however, between 1990 and 2005 the global rate decreased by less than 1%. Governments and international organizations must recommit themselves to decreasing maternal mortality by 5.5% annually in order to meet set targets. Maternal mortality is an issue that affects women worldwide, and must not be looked at as a concentrated regional problem, but rather a sector of health in which continuous improvement is required.

The delegation laid out 4 keys actions that the Human Rights Council should undertake to contribute to existing efforts. Identifying the human rights dimensions of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity, reviewing and considering information on discrimination in the provision of and access to healthcare for women and discrimination against women in respect of their right to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children, talking about the human rights implications of maternal mortality and morbidity in the universal periodic review and in treaty body dialogues, including the exchange of programmes and policies that have successfully reversed the trend of maternal deaths and injuries, and finally, requesting states to include women in decision-making about maternal health, including decisions on the design of local health care mechanisms, and to recognize women’s right to skilled professional care before, during and after pregnancy and childbirth. Goal 3 highlights the importance of South-South cooperation and sharing of good practices as an excellent tool of progression.

The Council will meet next in June of this year and it is PPD's hope that the suggestions provided by one of the largest joint-intergovernmental statements delivered to the Council will have taken effect, and that maternal mortality will be declared a human rights violation. Urgent action is needed in order to meet Millennium Development Goal 5 and to prevent thousands of unnecessary deaths, and the Human Rights Council has the ability to spur such action.

You can view the entire joint statement issued to the Human Rights Council at http://www.womendeliver.org/news/pdf/NewZealand.pdf

World Health Day 2009: Save Lives. Make Hospitals Safe in Emergencies

Since 1950, World Health Day has been celebrated around the globe on April 7th. Each year, the World Health Organization (WHO) chooses a theme, which highlights a key public issue that affects the international community.

This year, the focus is on the resilience and safety of health facilities and the health workers who treat those affected by emergencies. It is the WHO's hope that this annual celebration will promote a greater understanding of the issues at hand, as well as a long term advocacy program that will continue well beyond April 7th, 2009.

Worldwide, the number of disasters and emergencies are constantly increasing. In 2008 alone, 321 natural disasters killed more than 235,816 individuals. With an increasing desire toward urbanization, as well as a continuous population growth, the reliance on hospitals is becoming exponentially greater. In her Statement for World Health Day 2009, Dr. Margaret Chan, the Director-General of the WHO explains that, "when an emergency or disaster occurs, most lives are lost or saved in the immediate aftermath of the event. People count on hospitals and health facilities to respond, swiftly and efficiently, as the lifeline for survival and the backbone of support." However, in some cases the hospitals themselves are prone to simultaneous destruction, and as a result, health care workers are often killed or injured at the time when they are most critically needed. In other instances, health care systems that are already fragile are often unable to continue functioning in the event of such a disaster, further amplifying the tragedy of such an occurrence. Moreover, infectious diseases are one of the most prevalent causes of death and illness during a disaster, and if hospitals are unable to provide necessary care and infection prevention during an emergency, the propensity to amplify such an outbreak will increase, further inhibiting the hospital's capacity to provide other emergency services.

This year, the WHO is emphasizing the importance of investing in health infrastructure that will be able to withstand such disasters, and subsequently provide necessary care to those in need. Resilient construction, safe site decisions, and good planning are all crucial components to maintaining a functioning hospital. By anticipating such emergencies or disasters in advance, hospitals will have a greater ability to prepare themselves in the event that such a tragedy should occur, and will be able to provide the maximum potential for care to those affected.

A concern about funding is completely justified, as the WHO have calculated that the construction of a new hospital that can withstand such destruction costs surprisingly little in relation to the lives that can be saved. In many new health facilities, incorporating earthquake and severe weather protection into preliminary designs will add only 4% to the overall costs. Furthermore, reconstruction of existing facilities has minimal costs, and the incorporation of emergency preparedness and risk management into a hospital's operational plans costs almost nothing. World Health Day 2009 encourages both energy efficient and cost effective designs for the safety of new hospitals, and it is the hope of PPD ARO that such measures will quickly be implemented, helping to save countless lives worldwide.

We can all help to support better health care in emergencies, and involvement from within the community is essential in creating safer hospitals and better outcomes for those affected by such emergencies.

Recommendations for governments include:

• Champion the need to make health facilities safe and functional in emergencies for health, social and economic reasons
• Integrate “Safe Hospitals” programmes and health-risk reduction into national platforms for disaster-risk reduction
• Develop national multisectoral programmes and policies to make health facilities safe in emergencies. Countries that have established a “Safe Hospitals” programme will have taken an important step towards protecting their health facilities and providing health care when most needed
• Invest only in health facility projects that ensure safe location, design, construction, provision of care and emergency preparedness
• Integrate health facility safety and emergency preparedness into procedures for the licensing and accreditation of health facilities.

More information: English: http://www.who.int/world-health-day/2009/en/
French: http://www.who.int/world-health-day/2009/fr/index.html

To learn more about what you can do year-round, check out: http://www.who.int/world-health-day/2009/everyone_role/en/index.html

Read more about the planning framework for a national policy and programme for making health facilities safe in emergencies: http://www.afro.who.int/whd2009/planning_framework.pdf

Commission on Population and Development to Focus on Contribution of ICPD to MDGs

This week (30 March- 3 April) the forty-second session of the Commission on Population and Development will meet at the United Nation's headquarters in New York. The theme this year is "The contribution of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development to the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals."

Founded by the Economic and Social Council in 1946, the Commission is most recently involved in monitoring and assessing the implementation of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD 1994). This year's session will focus on lowering population growth, and effective family planning in the least developed nations of the world, in order to reduce overall poverty and remove the barrier to achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Since the 1960's, the least developed nations, many in sub-Saharan Africa, have been unable to reduce their overall fertility rates, leading to rampant population growth. On average, these countries have fertility rates of 4.6 children per woman, which is significantly higher than the estimated goal of 2.17 births per woman to achieve "near-replacement-level fertility." Hindered by their inability to reduce population growth, the Commission will emphasize the necessity for these least developed nations to ensure a quicker decline in fertility, in order to "reduce maternal mortality, improve child survival, promote women's empowerment and contribute to poverty reduction." The Commission on Population and Development's second focus this year is on effective family planning, helping to contribute to poverty reduction. By reducing the number of births within a family, the ability to save money becomes more easily attainable and a greater investment in the health and education of each individual child born into the family can be achieved. Furthermore, improved access to efficient family planning contributes to enhanced maternal health and a greater survival rate of young children.

Although efforts are underway to improve the implementation of both population reduction and family planning, the forty-second session this week will express the need for a stronger political commitment and increased funding, in order to achieve significant progress on the ICPD PoA. In addition, the Commission recommends continued implementation of successful programs, an emphasis on national leadership and ownership, the development of effective health systems, and an investment in pro-poor policies.

The Commission explicitly points to South-South cooperation as vital in order to identify what programs are working, and what policies are most efficient, stating that "South-South cooperation is valuable, especially for the identification of best practices and the exchange of lessons learned." A continuous exchange of information between countries will help to improve the overall trend in reaching the MGDs.

Population growth and family planning are crucial topics that must quickly be addressed, and it is the PPD ARO's hope that the this year's session of the Commission on Population and Development will be able to bring to light this year's crucial issues and further encourage South-South cooperation in population and development. Keynote speakers this year include David Canning (Harvard School of Public Health), Jean-Pierre Guengant (Representative from Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Burkina Faso), and Zeba Sather (Country Director of the Population Council in Pakistan).

To learn more about the Commission on Population and Development, you can access a summary of the session at http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2009/pop970.doc.htm

You can also read the keynote address, official statements, and agenda items in English and French for the Forty-second session at: http://www.un.org/esa/population/cpd/cpd2009/comm2009.htm

International Women’s Day: The Status of Women’s Health and Rights

Of the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Goal 3 explicitly calls for empowering women and promoting gender equality, specifically setting targets to eliminate gender disparity in all levels of education by 2015, with additional indicators on employment of women and the proportion of women in parliaments. However, gender equality is an essential cross-cutting component for meeting all the targets. According to Kofi Annan, Former Secretary-General of the United Nations, "In our work to reach those objectives, as the Millennium Declaration made clear, gender equality is not only a goal in its own right; it is critical to our ability to reach all the others . . . Study after study has shown that there is no effective development strategy in which women do not play a central role".

Gender gaps in access to and control of resources, in economic opportunities and in power and political voices are widespread. To date, only four countries (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Norway) have achieved a combination of approximate gender equality in secondary school enrolment, at least a 30 per cent share for women of seats in parliaments or legislatures, and an approximate 50 per cent share of paid employment in non-agricultural activities for women. In most countries, women continue to have less access to social services and productive resources than men. While the last two decades have seen some progress in many parts of the world in gender inequalities in schooling (as of 2006, the world was on track to meet the primary target of MDG 3: Gender Parity in School). Yet, women remain vastly under-represented in national and local assemblies, on average accounting for only 14 per cent of the seats in national parliaments.

And of particular concern to women’s health and rights is maternal mortality, MDG target 5. Pregnancy should be full of hope and joy--yet for so many women in Africa, pregnancy come with unnecessary danger. As a result, women in sub-Saharan Africa have a 1 in 16 chance of dying from complications of pregnancy or childbirth during their lives; comparatively, the lifetime risk to women in developed countries is 1 in 3,800.

Unfortunately, despite global progress on many of the MDGs illustrated in the Figure: Progress Against Targets to Meet the MDGs, less than 1/10th of the distance to be covered to meet the MDG 5 of reducing maternal mortality has been made. The chart shows how far behind the world is on MDG 5. The MDG target for maternal mortality will unlikely be met globally, and particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, without concerted efforts. The Maputo Plan of Action (PoA) for the Operationalisation of the Continental Policy Framework for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights 2007- 2010 states that that “African countries are not likely to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) without significant improvements in the sexual and reproductive health of the people of Africa.”

On International Women’s Day, PPD encourages its member and collaborating countries to support implementation of MDG 5 by advocating for improved reproductive health services. Universal access to reproductive health (as called for by the ICPD PoA) is essential to achieve gender equality, combat HIV/AIDS, and reduce maternal and child mortality.

Find out more information (including what you can do) by reading PPD ARO’s policy brief on RH in the MDGs:
In English: http://ppdafrica.org/docs/RH-MDGs.pdf
In French: http://ppdafrica.org/docs/RH-MDGsf.pdf

More information on the MDGs is online at:
UN: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
MDG Indicators: http://mdgs.un.org/

South-South Cooperation in Maternal Health and HIV/AIDS

“The Tunisia – France – Niger: The Kollo Project for safe motherhood and reproductive health project” was presented by Mr. Fethi Ben Messaoud, PCC for Tunisia and Senetaire General, Office National de la Famille et de la Population at the September 2008 PPD Partner Country Coordinators' Meeting for the Africa Region.

South-South Approaches to Innovative Health Solutions
MediaGlobal: Voice of the Global South
By Lucy-Claire Saunders

22 December 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: At the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Special Unit for South-South Cooperation’s first ever Global South-South Development (GSSD) Expo, experts presented four successful projects on HIV prevention and maternal health that exemplify South-South cooperation.

Among the four projects, Campaign to End Fistula was recognized as a model for championing collaboration between countries in the Global South, receiving an award of excellence from the United Nations Development Programme.

“Fistula requires our attention because it is a condition that takes away the dignity and the self-esteem of those who are affected by it,” Bunmi Makinwa, the Africa regional director for the campaign said. “It leaves women incontinent, ashamed and isolated from their communities. Fistula is a stark example of our failure in the public health system in poor countries.”

Fistula is a condition where a woman cannot control the flow of her urine and/or feces due to an injury brought about by prolonged labor. The Campaign to End Fistula, which aims to makes the debilitating condition as rare in developing countries as it is in the industrial world by 2015, is active in more than 45 countries in Africa, Asia and the Arab world.

“We are casting the net wider to incorporate more countries,” Makinwa said. “Recent training sessions in Mali highlight country-level efforts to develop the capacity of fistula service providers though South-South cooperation.”

For example, in Liberia’s surgical wards, they use specialized nurses to assist the surgeon during the operation. This is a service that does not exists in Mali so the program had a Liberian specialist train counterparts in Mali so that hospitals can introduce the new technique in the way they do business.

Three other projects exemplifying South-South cooperations in the health sector were also featured at the afternoon session. Dorcus Phiri, coordinator of the Teacher Capacity Building Project, gave an update on a program that uses live television broadcasts to reach out to teachers and students about HIV/AIDS in Botswana. Using a Brazilian model, the daily television program empowers teachers to break down the silence associated with HIV and AIDS by facilitating an open dialogue in a classroom setting.

“The program increased levels of conversation between teachers, pupils and parents on sexual reproductions health,” Phiri told MediaGlobal. “If we empower teachers with the skills, knowledge and the relevant attitudes for addressing HIV, then they would be better placed to deal with HIV issues in the classroom.”

Named, “Live Talk Back,” the program features a different panel every day who talk about HIV/AIDS and other reproductive health issues. Teachers, students and parents across the country are invited to participate in a live discussion using phone-ins, Short Message Services and e-mails.

Speaking about another project across the world that also deals with AIDS, Mariangela Simao, director of the National STD/AIDS Programme in Brazil, described a multi-country program that address HIV prevention throughout Latin America.

“For us in Brazil, the words of the famous archbishop, Dom Helder Camara, summarize how we think of South-South cooperation: ‘No one is so poor that he has nothing to offer. No one is so rich that he never needs help,’” she said.

The program, which is called, “Lacos –Sul-Sul,” works with partnering countries to ensure universal access to prevention treatment, HIV prevention with adolescents and children, generate demand for services and mobilize participation of those who use the service.

The results have been encouraging, said Simao. In two of the more remote regions in Nicaragua, where LSS support has been provided, HIV testing for pregnant women has increased from 20 per cent to 42 per cent and from 5.3 per cent to 24 per cent. On a side note, Simao mentioned that in regions where LSS is not active, this rate has actually dropped form 3.4 per cent to two per cent.

As well as addressing AIDS, the South-South cooperation projects also addressed maternal and child health. Niger, for example, has one of the lowest life expectancies in the world. The infantile mortality rate is 247 for 1,000 live births while the maternal mortality rate is about 700 for 100,000 live births.

Source: MediaGlobal: Voice of the Global South at http://www.mediaglobal.org/article/2008-12-23/south-south-approaches-to-innovative-health-solutions

World Day of Social Justice: The Centrality of Reproductive Health and Rights

February 20, 2009 is the first observation of the World Day of Social Justice (UN). The daylong celebration of social justice encourages all UN member states to organize activities on the national level to support the objectives of the 1995 World Summit for Social Development.

As recognized by the World Summit, “social development aims at social justice, solidarity, harmony and equality within and among countries and social justice, equality and equity constitute the fundamental values of all societies.” To achieve “a society for all” governments made a commitment to the creation of a framework for action to promote social justice at national, regional and international levels. Governments also pledged to promote the equitable distribution of income and greater access to resources through equity and equality and opportunity for all. The governments recognized as well that economic growth should promote equity and social justice and that “a society for all” must be based on social justice and respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Reproductive health and rights are essential components of social justice and development. At the ICPD+5 Forum in 1999, Former WHO Director-General Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland argued that, "Failure to address people's reproductive health needs is a matter of human rights and social justice. People have a right to make free and informed decisions about their reproductive lives. They have a right to information and care that will enable them to protect their health and that of their loved ones. They have a right to benefit from scientific progress in health care. . . . Defining reproductive ill-health as not only a health issue but as a matter of social justice provides a legal and political basis for governments to act.”

For more information:
Statement by Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General. ICPD+5 Forum, The Hague, Netherlands, 8–12 February 1999. Geneva, World Health Organization (Document WHO/CHS/RHR/99.8)

UN Reports on the World Day of Social Justice:
Social Justice in an Open World: The Role of the United Nations (2006)

Launch of the World Day of Social Justice New York, 10 February 2009

GA Resolution A/RES/62/10, 19 November 2007 in English and French

UN News Centre, 26 November 2007

GA Draft Resolution A/63/L.29/Rev.1,15 December 2008 in English and French