| National
South-South Support Structure Workshop
19
May 2009, Ghana
Statement
by
Mr. Harry S. Jooseery
Executive Director, PPD
Dr.
Esther Yaa Apewokin, Member, PPD Board
and Executive Director, National Population
Council
Mr.
Makane Kane, UNFPA Country Representative,
Ghana
Dr. Esther Cofie, PCC and Director,
National Population Council
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my pleasure welcoming you all
to this workshop on South South Cooperation
that the Government of Ghana is arranging
jointly with PPD. First of all, I
wish to express my appreciation and
thanks to the Government of Ghana
and most particularly Dr. Esther Yaa
Apewokin, PPD Board Member and Executive
Director National Population Council
for hosting this event and inviting
me to be part of it. I would also
like to welcome Mr. Makane Kane, UNFPA
representative in Ghana for sparing
his precious time to be with us despite
his very busy schedule. I would also
like to thank him and UNFPA for the
technical and financial support provided
to PPD for organizing different events.
PPD and UNFPA are sister organizations
and we enjoy very privileged relationship.
The UNFPA office in Ghana has always
been supportive to us and has sponsored
our Board Member and Senior officials
from the Government to our governance
meetings and related events for years
and for which we are very appreciative.
Mr. Kane, thank you once again for
your support.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Ghana joined PPD in November 2008
and this is my first visit to Ghana
and I bring the blessings of the chair
and Board members of PPD along with
me and wish that Ghana plays a leading
role as the 24th member of PPD in
promoting South South cooperation
for the attainment of ICPD goals and
the MDGs. This workshop is the first
official event that PPD is organizing
in Ghana, inspite of the fact that
we have had a long standing relationship
even before Ghana joined PPD. We wish
to introduce to you our organization
so that you could better understand
how the South South initiative could
be a value added and effective strategy
for change. At the same time, we wish
to set up a National Support Structure
to promote South South Cooperation.
Ladies
and Gentlemen, As we meet,
the world is being shaken by the financial
downturn. Countries worldwide are
gripped with recession, marked by
falling trade, reduced income, and
rising unemployment. There is growing
concern that the financial crisis
will fuel political instability that
will also spill across borders.
This financial crisis is now threatening
to wipe off our hard won progress
in improving health and reducing poverty.
Relatively small reduction in funding
at this point could lead to loss of
momentum that could take decades to
repair. Therefore the time is more
than opportune to look back at ourselves
and consider avenues to move forward.
The South has a rich source of resources,
technology, innovative programs, knowledge
and technology. Let us share these
within us, let us help ourselves so
that we can glide through this bad
time and lay the foundations for partnership
and economic, social and environmental
recovery.
Ladies
and Gentlemen, PPD is an intergovernmental
organization which was established
within the framework of ICPD in 1994
with a vision to galvanize efforts
to address the ICPD Program of Action
(PoA) with greater vigor and efficiency.
We are an alliance of 24 developing
countries mandated to bring about
sustainable changes in the lives of
our people through South South cooperation.
ICPD
PoA has been the turning point in
the ways we address population dynamics.
The shift of emphasis from Family
Planning to Reproductive Health has
created the desired momentum that
has changed the lives of millions
of our brothers and sisters in the
developing world. From 1994 to 2009
Total Fertility Rate has fallen from
2.5 to 3.3%, population growth rate
has fallen from 1.7 to 1.1% and literacy
rate has increased from 73 to 82%
in the world. That is why as we celebrate
the 15th anniversary of ICPD, we have
a feeling of substantial achievements
registered in the area of Reproductive
Health, Population and Development
in general. However the plights of
many in the developing world still
remain a cause of concern.
It
is unfortunate to note that funding
for Family Planning Program has fallen
from 55% in 1995 to 7% in 2005 and
as a result has hampered progress
and plunged many in a situation of
abject poverty. In some parts of Africa,
family planning services are completely
unavailable and in other parts where
they are available, they remain inaccessible.
It
is true that countries in Africa have
recently achieved positive economic
growth, higher than the global average,
and this is welcomed! However this
masks the huge poverty gap that exists
in Africa. The rate of maternal mortality
and morbidity in Africa is still the
highest in the world. While the average
maternal mortality rate is 400 deaths
per 100,000 live births, it is more
than 900 in some African countries.
The use of contraceptives is 21% in
Sub-Saharan Africa while the world
average is 59%. An estimated 22 million
people were living with HIV at the
end of 2007 and approximately 1.9
million additional people were infected
with HIV during that year.
But,
Ghana gives us hope. Ghana’s
estimated adult HIV/AIDS prevalence
was 2.3 percent in 2005. Currently,
the country’s epidemic is stable.
Innovative campaign like ‘Stop
Aids, Love Life’ has helped
Ghana tackle the deadly disease in
a timely manner. Ghana has made good
progress in the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
since 2000. It has sustained a period
of economic stability, with income
poverty levels declining from 39.5
per cent in 1999 to around 28.5 per
cent in 2006.
The
MDGs have been successfully mainstreamed
and integrated into the comprehensive
development policy framework of Ghana.
The Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy
(GPRS II) not only highlights the
national development priorities but
also indicates its aim of achieving
middle-income status, an average annual
income of $1,000 per capita. This
makes the national development targets
even more ambitious than the MDG targets.
If it succeeds, Ghana will have gone
further in 2015 than the targets identified
in the MDGs. Ghana can indeed be a
role model for Africa. Success stories
like Dormaa Healers Project and The
Community Health and Family Planning
Project (CHFP) of the Navrongo Health
Research Centre (NHRC) can be examples
throughout the world.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Only healthy women whose human rights
are protected can be fully productive
workers and effective participants
in their country's political processes.
Only when women are healthy and empowered
can they raise and educate healthy
children. These are the building blocks
of stable societies and growing economies,
and imperative in their own right.
Therefore in this time of economic
uncertainty there is no more important
investment to be made other than investing
on the rights of the women of our
countries.
Let us all therefore commit to three
core actions for the coming years,
1.
Implement comprehensive reproductive
health services, which include family
planning; skilled care during pregnancy
and delivery and postpartum; access
to safe abortion; prevention, care,
and treatment for sexually transmitted
infections, including HIV.
2. Strengthen health systems to
ensure equitable access to these
services and provide health information
and sexuality education, particularly
for the largest-ever generation
of adolescents.
3. Invest in policies, programs
and systems actions that give women
and girls access to economic resources,
skills training, and social support
and that protect their right to
have control over and decide freely
and responsibly on matters related
to their sexuality, including sexual
and reproductive health, free of
coercion, discrimination, and violence.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Governments form the south have the
potentials to raise the standard of
living of their citizens, the capacity
to enhance social welfare and the
capability to promote peace, harmony
and security in the countries. The
South-South Cooperation entails that
we have among us the skills, capabilities
and expertise, and if we galvanize
our efforts together, we could improve
the destiny of our children. PPD will
continue to develop and build institutional
and individual capacities, continue
advocacy for better access to Family
Planning Services, and the integration
of RH with HIV/AIDS for a balanced
sharing of resources, and work for
a secured supply of affordable and
quality RH products and services in
our member countries. In the context
of promoting South-South Cooperation
and RH and HIV/AIDS programs in Ghana,
PPD commits to these points,
1.
To facilitate the supply of RH commodities
in Ghana. China and other member
countries are willing to provide
commodities to Ghana. We are negotiating
with these countries, and PPD will
coordinate to strengthen relevant
capabilities in Ghana.
2. To offer fellowships to professionals
and executives of Ghana in the fields
of RH, and, Population and Demography.
I am pleased to inform you that
PPD will provide in 2010 fellowships
for a one year course in Demography
at The Cairo Demographic Centre
to the National Population Council.
3.
PPD wishes to create an effective
national support structure in Ghana
to galvanize efforts to promote
South-South Cooperation, with the
involvement of all stakeholders.
We are aware that while Ghana can
share a lot of its experiences,
it can also learn from the experiences
of other countries.
4.
Under its Capacity Building program,
PPD will network with institutes
of Ghana to partner with other leading
institutes in Africa, Asia, Latin
America and the Arab World to promote
research and training in the fields
of RH, Population, and, Gender and
Women Development. During my stay
I will explore possibilities of
engaging in working relationship
with training institutes in Ghana
so as to reinforce capacity building
programs.
5. I am pleased also to invite the
National Population Council to the
5th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive
and Sexual Health and Rights that
PPD is organizing between 18th and
20th October 2009 in Beijing, China
6. I am pleased also to inform that
following a screening of programs
on Reproductive Health among all
our member states by a group of
experts, Ghanaian training experience
on “The Integration of Population
Variables into development Planning”
has been selected as a concrete
example of Best Practices.
We will be documenting further on
the program and wish to publish
the Ghanaian experience in a Best
Practices Monogram that PPD is in
the process of developing to be
shared with all stakeholders in
the world.
There
is a lot of knowledge and learning
that Ghana can share with its neighbors
and it is my earnest wish that Ghana
becomes a forerunner in South-South
Cooperation in the region.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
PPD has developed a new Strategic
Business Plan with activities that
were approved by the Board in 2007
in Rabat. PPD’s main focus areas
are,
1.
Advocacy
2. Capacity Building
3. Exchange of experience and good
practice
4. Training and Research
PPD
is hoping that Ghana will be a great
influential partner in fulfilling
PPD’s agenda. With only 5 years
left in the countdown to 2015 for
the achievement of both ICPD goals
and MDG we must act with urgency to
put people first even when the financial
crises is looming on us. As I said
before, there is no smarter investment,
with such high economic and social
returns, than investing in the health
and rights of women. Let us all join
hands together to improve the lives
of our brothers and sisters in the
developing world. I have the firm
conviction that tomorrow is always
a better day and that the next generation
will indeed have a better living than
us.
I
thank you for your attention.
[
] |
