News
Commission on Population and Development Considers Health, Mortality, Morbidity and Development
- 12 April 2010
UNITED NATIONS — Ms. Purnima Mane, UNFPA Deputy Executive Director (Programme), this morning delivered an opening statement at the 43rd Session of Commission on Population and Development, whose theme is health, mortality, morbidity and development. The commission, which plays a key role in the follow-up to the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action that guides UNFPA, is expected to negotiate and adopt a substantive resolution on the theme.
Two reports of special interest to UNFPA will be taken up by the commission. One provides an overview of the programmatic work of UNFPA to improve maternal health and reduce maternal morbidity and mortality. It emphasizes that the most cost effective interventions to reduce maternal mortality are family planning, skilled birth attendants during delivery and emergency obstetric care.
A second report examines financial flows related to implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action. It notes that donor assistance for the implementation of the Programme of Action has been increasing gradually over the past few years. Even so, mobilized financial resources are insufficient to realize the objectives of the Programme of Action and achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Of particular concern has been a decrease in the funds made available for family planning services.
Related to this review of financial flows is a technical report released by UNFPA last week clarifying the methodology in calculating estimates for implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action. It includes a discussion of the assumptions behind costing interventions, as well as methodological constraints and shortcomings.
On 15 April, UNFPA is hosting a 15 April side panel discussion on reducing maternal death and disability. The discussion, which is a follow-up to last year’s high-level meeting on maternal health in Addis Ababa, will be moderated by Purnima Mane. Panelists will include Maria Isabel Plata, president of Profamilia-Colombia, Michelle Maloney-Kitts, assistant coordinator of Global AIDS/PEPFAR, Neha Sood, a member of the India Youth Coalition, and Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, a former Minister of Health from Nigeria.
UNFPA is also launching two other publications. A review of emerging population issues in Eastern Europe and Central Asia describes challenges related to an unprecedented demographic phenomenon: the combination of extremely low birth rates, migration losses and moderate mortality leading to simultaneous population decline and ageing in many countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Population Dynamics and Climate Change, produced in collaboration with the International Institute for Environment and Development, is a compilation of papers on issues such as population growth and size related to greenhouse gas emissions; population vulnerability and adaptation linked to health, gender disparities and children; migration and urbanization; and the data and analytical needs for the next stages of policy-relevant research.
