UNFPA Lobby Day

Did you know that every minute another woman will die from complications associated with childbirth? Without access to health care and education about pregnancy and contraception, women living in developing nations have a greater risk of dying from giving birth. In Africa, where women are 184 times more likely to die from a pregnancy related complication than women living in the US, 1 woman out of 26 will die each year due to preventable complications. Every year, UNFPA which provides women with prenatal health care and health education, relies on the financial support of the US and other nations.

To help educate legislators about UNFPA, I attended Lobby Day on Friday March 6th in Washington, DC. By educating legislators about the need for congressional funding for UNFPA programs, $50 million dollars was allocated to UNFPA for 2009. As a result of this valuable funding, the UN will be able to implement women-empowering programs that focus on HIV/AIDS prevention, humanitarian relief following a crisis, family planning, and better access to maternal healthcare.

To find out more about UNFPA, click here

Support Women's Heath and Rights

Americans for UNFPA is working (in the time after the appropriations markups and before the new President and Congress are sworn in) to get the next President on the record supporting global women’s health and rights. They’re taking out an ad in Roll Call in September, aimed at Obama and McCain, with a simple statement “Dear Senators Obama and McCain, promise to fully fund global women’s health by restoring the $235 million that has been blocked from UNFPA in the last seven years” and the signatures of supporters. The visibility of the names of global women’s health and rights supporters will demonstrate the value of global women to both presidential candidates.
Take a second to sign this ad, and your name will be listed with thousands of others in an ad directed at Obama and McCain.

Know your reproductive health!

Reproductive health remains a top concern across the world, and especially in Asia. Experts, advocates and activists meeting at a United Nations-backed meeting in Hyderabad, India addressed this issue on Wednesday. In an opening session subtitled, “An unfinished agenda,” the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Deputy Executive Director Purnima Mane noted that Asia continues to have “high rates of unintended pregnancies, high rates of maternal death and disability, increasing numbers of new HIV infections, and persistent and widespread violence against women and girls,” despite the region's progress in reducing poverty.

Participants of the meeting cited external pressures, outmoded laws, and regulatory structures undermining reproductive health as the root of these reproductive health issues. The participants vowed to push for greater resources and awareness in a better attempt to achieve the goals of the Fourth Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights, which is an ongoing review series since governments pledged in 1994 to make reproductive health services accessible to everyone by 2005. Clearly, that goal has yet to be accomplished.

This UN-backed meeting comes at the heels of UNFPA denouncing the practice of son preferences in Asia. Preference for sons is deeply rooted in many Asian countries for both cultural and economic reasons, but UNFPA explains that prenatal son selection in several Asian countries could result in severe social consequences – such as a surge in sexual violence and trafficking of women.

Women take Centerstage

Last week, the Americans for the UNFPA held the Gala for the Health and Dignity of Women in New York City. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) supports countries in using population data for policies and programs to reduce poverty, improve female healthcare, and eliminate the spread of HIV/AIDS. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who was at the event, stressed the need to support UNFPA, stating “today, we understand, even better than our founders did, that the empowerment of women is a fundamental condition if we are to make progress towards the goals for which the United Nations was created.”

Mr. Ban spoke of the fact that many women die during pregnancy and childbirth because of limited sexual and reproductive health; many women become infected with HIV because they do not have power over their bodies; and many women are subjected to violence. Ban cites this as “one of the most systematic and prevalent human rights abuses in the world.”

He encouraged the Americans for UNFPA to continue support of this increasingly important UN agency. The gala honored four Americans from the media, financial and political fields along with women from Niger, Mongolia and Cambodia for combining passion and entrepreneurship with social responsibility to advance the health and dignity of women. Ted Turner also received a lifetime achievement award for his continual support of UN programs and women’s issues.

Girl power.

Giving Women Their Rights

2-3 million girls worldwide undergo FGM/C (female genital mutilation or cutting) each year, defined by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) as the “partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for cultural or other non-therapeutic reasons.”

FGM/C is hard to talk about because it has a deeply entrenched cultural component. But the detrimental health effects on women can’t be ignored: pain, psychological trauma, infection, infertility and even death.

Today marks the end of a 4-day conference in Ethiopia convened by UNFPA devoted to understanding this practice and devising a strategy to protect those that suffer from FGM/C. Participants included many development experts, ranging from other UN agencies and NGOs to the World Bank and USAID. This gathering is meant to provide an opportunity for the intersection policy and ideas.

UNFPA is doing incredibly important work in ending harmful practices against women, while ensuring that men are also involved in this process, as well as discouraging all forms of gender-based violence.

Men At Work

Who says men can't participate in maternal health? In fact, overlooking their important role in this endeavor would be a mistake, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid recently stated that "Men are equal partners in making the new life that the women will deliver." To emphasize this, the chosen theme for World Population day, held on July 11, was Men as Partners in Maternal Health. Men all around the world, from Nigeria and Zimbabwe to Brazil and Indonesia, took this message to heart and supported maternal health initiatives to demonstrate their commitment to the it-takes-two mentality.

UNFPA is committed to the equality of development in men, women and children. It operates under the guidance of the UNDP governing council and is a founding member of the UN Development Group (UNDG).