UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network / 05 November 2008 --The women of the world can rejoice that Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States of America. He will support much greater access to reproductive health and to family planning in particular. The United States of America will again contribute to the United Nations Population Fund.

Tamara Kreinin, executive director of Women and Population at the United Nations Foundation says that each contribution of $34 million the Bush Administration has withheld each year from UNFPA could have helped UNFPA prevent 2 million unintended pregnancies, 800,000 abortions, 4,700 mothers’ deaths, and more than 77,000 infant and child deaths.

On any day 1,369 women die as a complication of pregnancy or childbirth for lack of pre-natal care or a trained birth attendant who could offer emergency obstetric care. Multiply 1,369 by 365 and its 500,000 per year give or take. One million children are left motherless each year because of maternal deaths.

On any day at least 110,000 women have abortions, half of which are illegal, unsafe, risky. Multiply 110,000 by 365 and you get 40 million give or take. That represents twenty percent of the pregnancies. The primary reason for these abortions is lack of access to family planning. Two hundred thirteen of these women die and several thousand suffer temporary or permanent disability.

Multiply 213 by 365 and you get 78,000 per year, give or take. Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times (November2, 2008): “We must cooperate with other countries on humanitarian efforts, including family planning. One of the Bush follies that has bewildered the world has been the vacuous refusal to support family planning through the United Nations Population Fund....It’s difficult to think of any person alive today whose policies have led to more unnecessary abortions worldwide than Mr. Bush.”

Barack Obama will make sure that UNFPA has the support it deserves from our country and remove many of the onerous limitations imposed by the Bush Administration on our own government and on NGO’s who take care of the world’s women. When the world takes care of women, women take care of the world. No longer will a narrow political and religious agenda here at home deprive the women of the world of the care they need.

UNFPA states that population growth is outpacing the demand for family planning and that without an increase in the use of contraceptives (of which there is a worldwide shortage), world population could well exceed 9 billion by 2050. Like maybe 11 or 12 billion! Heaven forbid! 

To meet the current need, global population assistance should exceed $1.2 billion per year for family planning. Current assistance is only $550 million, less than half of what is needed right now. Family planning assistance should increase to $1.6 billion by 2015. Are we blind?

I hate to be so trite, but quite honestly, if men could become pregnant, would there be a worldwide shortage of family planning commodities? The International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, Egypt in 1994 promised over a 20 year period universal access to the highest standard of reproductive health including family planning. But the financial commitments made at ICPD have been more honored in the breach than in the fulfillment.

Please visit www.UN.org/millenniumgoals. The fifth goal is Improve Maternal Health. Click on it. You will read: “An unmet need for family planning undermines the achievement of several other goals.” A good case could be made that lack of access to family planning undermines all of the other MDG’s.

I must quote Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations when he said at the Fifth Asian and Pacific Population Conference held in Bangkok in December 2002: “The Millennium Development Goals, particularly the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, cannot be achieved if questions population and reproductive health are not squarely addressed. And that means stronger efforts to promote women’s rights, and greater investment in education and health, including reproductive health and family planning.”

The case for family planning is even stronger now than it was then. Progress toward all the goals is very uneven and population growth is often eating up what little progress is being made. Again, are we blind?

Family planning was a great medical advance of the 20th century. It has probably saved more women’s and children’s lives than any other. Gender inequality is probably the root cause of voluntary family planning not being high on the world’s agenda. Money seems to flow to specific diseases whereas mundane family planning doesn’t seem to have pizzazz. 

That is a huge mistake. Are we blind? The Obama Administration will be a leader in intelligent and evidence based policies which stress education and health particularly for women. Ban Ki-moon: “In women the world has the most significant but untapped potential for development and peace.”

My next column will be about the UNFPA’s 2008 State of World Population report “Reaching Common Ground: Culture Gender and Human Rights to be released November 12.

Labels: United Nations, U.N., MaximsNews, MaximsNewsGlobalHealth, Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Reproductive Health, Family Planning, UN Population Fund, UNFPA, Tamara Kreinin, Child Deaths, Abortion, Nicholas Kristof, International Conference on Population and Development, ICPD, Maternal Health, Women's Rights, Gender Inequality, 34 Million Friends of the United Nations Population Fund

 

Advertisement

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MaximsNews® LLC   NEWS NETWORK FOR THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

MaximsNews Network® LLC is a Global News Network that is read worldwide, in 201 countries and territories. MaximsNewsNetwork is associated with MediaChannel.org and Globalvision News Network, global news and media information services with more than 350 news affiliates in 135 countries. 

Established in 1999, MaximsNews now publishes in the six UN working languages: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish.  

SEE:  About MaximsNews

The views expressed are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of MaximsNews® LLC.

REACH THE WORLD'S MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE  

SEE: Advertise with MaximsNews | MaximsNews MEDIA PARTNERSHIPS      

MaximsNews.com U.N. ® LLC  www.MaximsNews.com | MaximsNews@MaximsNews.com           | CONTACT MaximsNews  | Please contact us about Republishing: Syndication@MaximsNews.com ©Copyrights 1999 - 2008, MaximsNews® LLC. All rights reserved.