In the News
Task Force to Kick Start Cairo Goals
- 02 October 2012
UNITED NATIONS --- Gathered at the Ford Foundation in New York Monday, international luminaries, family planning experts and women’s rights activists repeatedly expressed a common sentiment: “I cannot believe that we are still having this discussion today.”
Women's sexual and reproductive rights are at the heart of sustainable development, experts say. Credit: Fahim Siddiqi/IPS
They were there to mark the launch of a new 26-member high-level task force to galvanise support behind the goals of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).
That conference took place nearly two decades ago, in Cairo, Egypt in 1994. It resulted in a Programme of Action that has become the guiding document for the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA.
The Programme of Action contains four global goals. First, universal access to education for all, including women and girls. Second, reduction of infant and child mortality. Third, reduction of maternal mortality. And fourth, access to reproductive and sexual health services, including family planning.
Read the full story by Becky Bergdahl on the IPS website
