| Advocacy
for Reproductive Health and
HIV/AIDS Integration at G8 Parliamentarians
Conference
The
“G8 Parliamentarians Conference
on the Economic Rewards for
Investing in HIV/AIDS Prevention
and Health” was jointly
organized by the Parliamentary
Advisory Committee of Deutsche
Stiftung Weltbevolkerung, the
European Parliamentary Forum
on Population and Development
(EPF) and Deutsche Stiftung
Weltbevolkerung (DSW) at the
German Parliament in Berlin
on 30 – 31 May 2007.
The
leading parliamentarians, policy-makers
and members of think tanks from
the G8 countries as well as
beneficiary organizations, governments
and key stakeholders of official
G8 assistance participated at
the Annual G8 Heads-of-State
Summit. The purpose of this
conference was to foster meaningful
dialogue among the participants
on the main subject to be raised
at the G8 Heads-of-State Summit.
Partcipants
of the Conference
Partners in Population and Development
(PPD) was invited to share its
views on RH in Africa and contribute
in the discussion. Mr. Harry
S. Jooseery represented PPD
in the conference and presented
a paper entitled “Integrating
HIV/AIDS within Sexual and Reproductive
Health Programme in the Context
of South-South Cooperation”
under the session on “Funding
for HIV/AIDS Prevention and
Sexual and Reproductive Health
and Rights and the Chances of
Public-Private Partnership (PPP).”
In
his speech, Mr. Jooseery stressed
that “there is an urgent
need to reposition Family Planning
within the whole context of
Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS
Program”. He further emphasized
that “Reproductive Health
and HIV/AIDS needs to be addressed
synergistically, without underscoring
one at the expense of the other”.
“South-South Cooperation
is based on the premise that
developing countries have a
wealth of knowledge, experience
and expertise which if effectively
shared among themselves, can
marvel and sprinkle extraordinary
energy that can reshape their
own destiny”. Mr. Jooseery’s
speech was well received and
the views expressed in his speech
were taken into due consideration
for preparation of conference
outcomes. The event adopted
a Parliamentary Appeal to G8
Heads-of-State and a set of
Recommendations for the G8 Summit.
UN
Commission on Population and
Development, 9-13 April 2007
The
40th Session of the UN Commission
on Population and Development,
which took place at the United
Nations, New York, from 9
to 13 April 2007, had as its
main theme the Changing Age
Structures of Populations
and Their Implications for
Development. In the Session,
special attention was given
to the issues related to the
aging population as well as,
to the problems being faced
by the adolescents and young
people in many developing
countries.
In
her statement at the opening
session, Dr Thoraya Obaid,
Executive Director, UNFPA
pointed out that the amount
of support given to the family
planning sector had currently
declined to 9 percent from
55 percent in 1994 and gave
emphasis on greater support
towards reproductive health
services, including family
planning. Her concern was
that otherwise the objective
of providing universal reproductive
health services by 2015 would
not be met.
Mr
Jiang Fan, Vice Minister of
the National Population and
Family Commission of China,
in his statement, stressed
the need “to advance
South-South cooperation”
and “to reinforce policy
dialogues and experience sharing.”
“We call for greater
support and assistance to
the PPD, an intergovernmental
organization of developing
countries for population and
development, so that PPD may
play a better role in this
concern.”
In
a similar vein, Dr Sugiri
Syarief, Chairman, National
Family Planning Coordination
Board (BKKBN) of Indonesia,
called on the international
community and donors “to
strengthen the South-South
cooperation through PPD. As
the members of PPD represent
more than half of the world’s
population, sustaining population
policies and programmes in
Member States of PPD will
have greater impact on the
global population dynamic
and the group’s development
programmes.”
PPD
was represented at the Session
by Mr Jyoti Shankar Singh,
Partners’ Permanent
Observer to the United Nations.
The
Executive Director Meets the
Chair
Mr.
Harry Jooseery met with H.E.
Mr. Zhang Weiqing, Chair of
PPD and Minister of National
Population and Family Planning
Commission (NPFPC), Government
of the People’s Republic
of China in Beijing on 8 May
2007 in the office of the Chair.
The Executive Director reported
the wide range of governance
and programmatic activities
to the Honorable Chair and sought
his guidance and support for
their continuing implementation.
PPD
Executive Director updating
the Honourable Chair on Programmatic
Activities
The
Chair was informed on the progress
made in different activities
under the terms of the Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) signed
between PPD and Government of
the Peoples Republic of China
on Capacity Development, Transfer
of Technology and Expertise
and Commodity Security and Supply.
Satisfied on the Progress made,
the Chair hoped for a sustained
growth and stressed on the importance
of addressing global environment
change in PPD Program. The ED
had discussion with Dr. Zhao
Baige, Vice Minister, NPFPC
and Dr. Hao Linna, Director-General,
NPFPC at a meeting on 7 May
2007.
The
discussion included the organization
of 2007 Annual Board Meeting,
Executive Committee Meeting
and an International Forum consecutively
scheduled to be held in the
first week of November 2007.
Government of Pakistan has graciously
offered to host these events
in Islamabad.
Consultative
Meeting in Taicang China
Around
34 experts from fifteen developing
countries met from 10 to 15
May 2007 at China Training Center
(CTC) in Taicang, People’
Republic of China to review,
discuss and make recommendations
on the training and research
needs of Partner Institutions.
The experts discussed the findings
from the assessment on the capabilities
of 17 Partner Institutions and
the documentation on priority
issues and strategies for the
achievement of ICPD PoA and
MDGs. The collection of information
in member states’ institutions,
Anglophone Africa, Francophone
Africa, South-East Asia and
Arab Countries were initiated
and conducted by PPD with the
support of UNFPA.
The
major objectives of the Consultative
Meeting were:
1.
To assess training
and research needs in population,
gender and reproductive health
in Africa, Asia and the Arab
region;
2.
To map out the various
training programs those are
currently being implemented
by Partner Institutions to
help build analytical capacities
of developing countries in
the same areas;
3.
To assess the training gaps
in population, gender and
reproductive health areas
and to suggest modalities
to address those gaps;
4.
To identify research needs
and propose a strategy to
address them; and
5.
To assess capabilities
of Partner Institutions in
facilitating cooperation among
developing countries themselves
through South-South Cooperation.
Participants
of the Workshop
The
experts’ discussions revealed
that training and research capabilities
of Partner Institutions need
to be strengthened in areas
such as Population and Poverty,
Reproductive Health, Gender,
Advocacy and Policy. Following
this meeting, PPD will organized
in mid June a consultative meeting
with experts for the development
of modules in these priority
areas.
“Population
'faces risk of rebound' in China”
says the Chair of PPD
The
top family planning official
in China has warned that the
world's most populous country
could face a "population
rebound" because the newly
rich are ignoring population
control laws and because of
early marriages in rural areas.
The family planning policy,
implemented in China in the
late 1970s, limits most urban
couples to one child and rural
families to two in an attempt
to control population growth
and conserve natural resources.
But rising incomes mean some
newly rich families can afford
to break the rules and pay the
resulting fines, while the traditional
desire for sons encourages some
rural families to also flout
the rules.
In
response to the widespread rule-breaking,
HE Mr. Zhang Weiqing, Director
of the NPFPC, said the country's
currently low birth rate may
be unsustainable and that the
risk of a "population rebound"
was very real. He also made
his concern on the early marriages
which are still prevalent in
some parts of the country, especially
in rural areas, which goes against
the family planning policy.
According
to the Constitution, men may
marry at the age of 22, and
women at 20. The country's family
planning policy, which has been
in place since the 1970s, encourages
late marriages and late childbearing.
However, Mr. Zhang noticed the
widening wealth gap had challenged
the country's family planning
efforts as wealthy people simply
ignored the decades-old one-child
policy and paid to have as many
children as they wanted.
The
number of rich people and celebrities
having more than one child has
been increasing rapidly, and
nearly 10 percent of the people
in this group have three, according
to a recent survey by the NPFPC.
Concern was raised as young
couples who were born in the
1970s and 1980s and raised as
only children are also allowed
to have second children, which
had contributed to the rising
birth rate in some central and
western provinces.
The
NPFPC will continue to offer
preferential services to couples
who abide by the family planning
policy, Mr. Zhang said, adding
that the government would increase
its spending on family planning
to 30 yuan ($3.80) per person
during the 11th Five-Year Plan
period (2006-10).
New
Program Officers in PPD Secretariat
Two
new Program Officers joined
PPD secretariat in Dhaka. They
are –
1. Dr. Riffat Hossain Lucy
2. Dr. Shariful Islam
Click the name to see their
Biography.
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