FIVE AMERICAN LUMINARIES URGE INCREASED U.S. FAMILY PLANNING ASSISTANCE FROM USAID by Jane Roberts: 12/02/20089 (MaximsNews Network)  

       UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network / 12 February 2009 -- In a report entitled "Making the Case for U.S. International Family Planning Assistance" five former directors of the United States Agency for International Development’s Population and Reproductive Health Program have issued a call for renewal of U.S. political and financial commitment to international family planning programs.  

The report calls for upping U.S. family planning assistance from approximately $425 million annually under Bush to $1.2 billion in FY (fiscal year) 2010, rising to $1.5 billion annually by 2014. 

One dollar invested in family planning is likely to save four dollars in other development areas. It is a WIN-WIN. The report also hopes USAID will increase the number of countries where it lends its expertise. There is strong Congressional support for reinvigorating America’s role in population assistance.  

The report also calls for reversing the Global Gag Rule which Obama has done and for renewed American contributions to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).  

Done! As cofounder of 34 Million Friends of the United Nations Population Fund, I applaud. 

Making the Case states that in the 1970s, about 680 million women of reproductive age lived in developing countries where USAID had programs.  

Today, this figure has more than doubled, to 1.4 billion women. An estimated 201 million women worldwide have an unmet need for family planning.  The United Nations estimates that this demand will grow 40 percent by 2050 as record numbers of young people enter their prime reproductive years. 

Definition of unmet need: A woman has an unmet need for family planning if she is married, in a union, or sexually active and is able to conceive; wants no more children or does not want to have a child in the next two years; and is not using any modern contraception or is using a traditional method.  

Around 55 percent of the women with current unmet need live in Asia with Pakistan, the Philippines, Nepal and northern India being highlighted. 

According to “Making the Case” only about 18 percent of African women are using modern contraceptives compared to 56 percent of women in the rest of the developing world.  

The number of children African women want is quite high, while the number they actually have is still higher. Africa also suffers from a dearth of healthcare workers, gender inequality, poor transportation, and grossly inadequate health equipment and supplies.  

Worldwide the shortage of family planning commodities and the logistics of their distribution to where they are needed is a constant problem.  

Making the Case goes on to highlight the catalytic role played by and the proven expertise exhibited by USAID in the family planning field in the past. It laments the de-emphasis on family planning in recent years not only by the Bush Administration but also world wide. 

The report points to family planning and reproductive health as significant contributors to the fight against poverty, and to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. 

The following former Directors of the Population and Reproductive Health Program at USAID are the report’s authors: J. Joseph Speidel, Adjunct Professor, University of CA, San Francisco, Steven Sinding, Senior Scholar, Guttmacher Institute, Duff Gillespie, Professor Johns Hopkins University, Elizabeth Maguire, President and CEO of IPAS, and Margaret Neuse, Independent Consultant. The full report my be downloaded at  

For the women of the world (and for America’s image in the world), a new day may be dawning!

Labels: United Nations, U.N., Making the Case for U.S. International Family Planning Assistance, Population and Reproductive Health Program at USAID, J. Joseph Speidel, Steven Sinding, Guttmacher Institute, Duff Gillespie, Johns Hopkins University, Elizabeth Maguire, IPAS, Margaret Neuse, International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Thoraya Obaid, UNFPA, Jane Roberts, United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA’s 2008 State of World Population Reaching Common Ground: Culture, Gender, and Human Rights, 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), MaximsNews Network,

 

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