UNFPA Launches Global Programme to Prevent Shortfalls in Essential Supplies

BRUSSELS — Noting that reproductive health commodities remain dangerously under-funded, Mari Simonen, UNFPA Deputy Executive Director (External Relations, UN Affairs and Management) launched a major global initiative to address supply shortfalls at a high-level seminar here.

The seminar, entitled “European Development Policies, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Supplies: Where is the Link?” was the culmination of activities organized by a consortium of European NGOs and the European Parliamentary Network on Population and Development. Part of the Countdown 2015: Europe campaign, the seminar galvanized support for the ICPD Programme of Action as a foundation for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The highlight of the seminar was the presentation of a Call to Action signed by 125 parliamentarians urging the governments of the European Union member states and the European Commission to ensure that sufficient resources are allocated to achieve the MDGs. The Call to Action will be delivered to the Prime Minister of Finland (which currently holds the EU presidency) and will be taken up in Portugal when that country’s EU presidential term begins.

Guaranteeing sufficient supplies of reproductive health commodities is essential to implementing the ICPD Programme of Action and meeting the Millennium Development Goals, Ms. Simonen told the audience.

“Without supplies, individuals cannot exercise their reproductive rights,” she said. “But the reality is that funding shortages – coupled with a tendency to look at reproductive commodities in isolation from other issues – have always hampered the adequate provision of contraceptives, condoms and other reproductive health supplies.”

Women and men in developing countries pay a terrible price for the under-funding of reproductive health commodities, Simonen added. Every minute of every day, 190 women have an unintended pregnancy, 650 people contract a sexually transmitted infection and 10 become infected with the HIV virus. Much of this suffering and death could be averted through better planning and logistics management, including monitoring supplies and forecasting needs.

The Global Programme to Enhance Reproductive Health Commodity Security provides a structure for moving beyond ad hoc responses to supply shortages and toward more predictable, planned and sustainable country-driven approaches for maintaining supply chains.

“Full implementation of the Global Programme will require $150 million a year for an initial period of five years,” Ms. Simonen said. “Our principal focus is to help individuals everywhere exercise their right to sexual and reproductive health. The Global Programme is about making those rights real.” 

— Janet Jensen