Countries Committed to Population Issues and Reproductive Health, New Global Survey Shows

UNITED NATIONS, Geneva—Reproductive health and rights are becoming an integral part of national agenda in an increasing number of countries, and more policy makers are committed to safe motherhood. Family planning policies are well established around the world, and the use of modern family planning methods is on the rise. Population and gender issues are becoming more institutionalized, and stakeholders, especially women, are getting more involved in development programmes and policies. However, financial and other obstacles still impede national development efforts.

These and other findings are part of a new Global Survey on progress made and constraints faced by countries in implementing the Programme of Action of the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). Adopted by consensus by about 179 countries, the 20-year forward-looking Cairo programme represented a bold new vision about the relationships between population and development and provided countries with a set of actions needed in response.

The Survey was conducted by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, which is mandated to assist countries in implementing the ICPD Programme of Action. UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid released the report during a press conference in Geneva today.

Investing in People: National Progress in Implementing the ICPD Programme of Action 1994-2004 includes responses from 169 countries on the steps they have taken to implement the Cairo Programme of Action, including measures related to population and development, gender equality, women’s empowerment, reproductive rights and health and HIV/AIDS. The report also presents actions these countries still need to take to achieve the ICPD goals.

"The Global Survey shows that countries have taken full ownership of the ICPD programme and a significant amount of progress has been achieved during the past last decade,” said Ms. Obaid. "The challenge during the next 10 years is to build on this progress and ensure that investments reach the poorest segments of the population, especially women and young people.”

Investing in People shows that countries of all regions have a strong sense of awareness of the ICPD mandate, and that they are implementing it in a pragmatic way by defining and focusing on their national priorities. The survey also underlines a global consensus that carrying out the ICPD programme is critical to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, including halving extreme poverty by 2015.

According to the survey, more than 90 per cent of countries have integrated family planning and safe motherhood into their primary health care systems. A similar percentage had taken measures to address adolescent reproductive health, including integrating reproductive health education into school curricula. Many of the survey respondents have also established national AIDS commissions and programmes to deal with the impact of the pandemic. The survey also shows growing attention to issues like migration and population ageing.

The survey highlights a number of obstacles to the Cairo goals. The most notable of these is the lack of financial resources, with more than 80 per cent of countries reporting that available resources did not meet their reproductive health needs. In addition, the survey shows that current financial commitments by donor countries to developing countries are inadequate to make the Cairo vision a reality. The survey also confirms the need to protect funding for population and reproductive health in the face of a number of new and competing priorities.

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UNFPA is the world’s largest multilateral source of population assistance. Since it became operational in 1969, it has provided help to developing countries, at their request, to meet reproductive health needs and support development efforts.

Contact Information:

Kristin Hetle
Cell Phone: +1-917-378-5957
Email: hetle@unfpa.org