| ECOSOC
Ministerial Meeting
06
- 09 July 2009, Geneva, Switzerland
Statement by
Mr. Harry Jooseery
Executive Director, PPD
Mr
President,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I
would like in the first instance to
thank you very much for giving me
this opportunity to address you on
behalf of Partners in Population and
Development (PPD), an intergovernmental
alliance of 24 developing countries
dedicated to the promotion and strengthening
of South-South cooperation in population
and development.
Partners
in Population and Development (PPD),
which was established during the 1994
International Conference on Population
and Development (ICPD), and whose
membership now represents more than
57 per cent of the world population,
is committed to implementing the goals
and objectives of the ICPD Programme
of Action, as well as the related
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The
most important ICPD goal in the area
of global public health is the goal
of ensuring universal access to and
availability of reproductive health,
including family planning, by 2015.
This was included as one of the two
targets under MDG 5 on maternal health
by heads of state and government gathered
at the United Nations for the Millennium+5
Summit in 2005.We strongly believe
that the implementation of this target,
along with other targets under MDGs
4, 5 and 6, all of which are related
to global public health, are pivotal
to the reduction of maternal mortality,
achieving poverty reduction and registering
progress towards women’s empowerment.
This
view was fully endorsed by the ministers
and senior officials from our member
states at the most recent International
Forum on the Progress and Prospects
of ICPD over the past 15 years in
Kampala, Uganda in November 2008.They
also noted, with concern, that family
planning is losing its centrality
in terms of budgetary allocations
as well as its place in poverty reduction
strategies and in population and reproductive
health policies and programmes and
underlined the need to reposition
family planning as a priority in development.
The fact that resource allocation
to family planning in international
population assistance has come down
from 55 per cent in 1995 to less that
5 per cent today, means that countries
are not giving sufficient priority
to reproductive health and maternal
health. We sincerely hope that international
donors, along with developing countries,
will pay special attention to the
need to substantially increase allocation
of resources to family planning; and
this is critical if we are to make
any progress on maternal health.
The
Kampala Declaration of November 2008,
adopted by our member states, also
emphasizes the need for an integrated
approach to reproductive health and
HIV/AIDS. As it points out, in many
countries with high HIV prevalence
and high contraceptive use, significant
linkages between HIV/AIDS and sexual
and reproductive health, including
family planning exist and these could
facilitate promotion of integrated
RH/HIV/AIDS services. However, it
needs to be accepted that there are
also barriers to integration such
as vertical nature of programme components,
or the desire of some donors to focus
exclusively on HIV/AIDS services.
The extent to which RH and HIV/AIDS
services can be integrated will thus
depend on how the practical and policy
challenges facing the country concerned
are met.
In
all actions relating to global health
issues, including family planning
and sexual and reproductive health,
the gender perspective must form an
over-arching component. Women form
the majority of the poorest and the
most vulnerable segments of societies
all over the world; and success in
achieving the global health goals
included in the MDGs will depend on
the attention paid to removal of all
forms of discrimination against women
and the promotion of equality between
men and women in all sectors.
PPD
has worked closely with several international
agencies, including UNFPA and WHO,
in promoting and implementing the
goals of ICPD and the MDGs through
south south cooperation and in particular
in the areas of training and capacity
development, exchange of information,
reproductive health commodity security,
and policy dialogues. It looks forward
to deepening and strengthening its
cooperation with them in implementing
these goals by 2015. I reiterate the
hope that RH/FP regains the attention
it deserves. Investment in RH/FP remains
a cornerstone for development, and
indeed South South Cooperation an
effective strategy to attain ICPD
and MDGs in developing countries.
Mr
President,
Thank you.
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