|
 <http://www.millenniumcampaign.org/site/pp.asp?c=grKVL2NLE&b=138312>
Achieving
the ICPD, ICPD+5 and Millennium Development Goals(MDGs)
"Greater investments in health and education
services for all people, in particular women, to enable the full
and equal participation of women in civil, cultural, economic,
political and social life are essential to achieving the objectives
of the Programme of Action."-- Preamble, Para. 2, Key Actions
for the Further Implementation of the Programme of Action of the
International Conference on Population and Development, adopted
by the twenty-first special session of the General Assembly, New
York, 1999.The international community has committed
itself to an ambitious goal: cutting in half the number of people
living in absolute poverty by 2015. To do this, world leaders
have adopted specific targets for life expectancy, education,
housing, gender equality, openness of trade, and environmental
protection.But success in achieving these goals depends
upon several conditions:-The first condition rests on respect for
national sovereignty: each country will assess its own needs.
- The second condition is that all of the
Millennium Development Goals are interrelated and strategic efforts
must be made to achieve all of the targets at the same time. - The third condition is that these goals
remain the starting point, and not the final steps, for eradicating
poverty. Efforts in other areas not mentioned in the list of goals
should be made. These include debt relief and changes in trade
regimes and investment arrangements as well as development assistance.
Practical efforts to eradicate poverty
rest directly upon the enforcement of basic human rights. These
rights are the starting point from which goals were set in the
ICPD Programme of Action and the follow-up goals that came out
of the ICPD+5 conference in 1999.Poverty cannot and will not be eradicated
without achieving ICPD goals. Universal access to education and
reproductive health care are crucial steps that can help to eradicate
poverty. Meeting these ICPD goals will pave a straight road directly
toward reaching the Millennium Development Goals.
*************************
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty
and hunger
To halve the number of people living on
less than $1 a day and the number of people living in hunger,
universal access to reproductive health care for men and women
is imperative.-The ICPD Programme of Action and ICPD+5
benchmarks aim for universal access to voluntary reproductive
health services, including family planning. Access to these services
will give their users fundamental choices that will change the
repetitive cycle of poverty. With access to family planning, women
and men can decide if, when and how many children they want.- Lower fertility results in slower population
growth and opens a "demographic window"of opportunity for economic
growth and poverty reduction, as the ratio of dependants to working-age
people declines.- Large families dilute the assets of poorer
households, and unwanted births deepen household poverty. Smaller
families allow more investment in each child's education and health.
*************************
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary
education
- To achieve universal primary education,
the gender gap must be closed.- The ICPD Programme of Action's goal of
basic education for all boys and girls by 2015 can be supported
through the empowerment of women, training teachers to be gender
sensitive, promoting the value of educating girls, postponing
early marriage and childbearing, allowing pregnant teens to continue
studying, providing scholarships, providing universal access to
reproductive health, and lowering fertility, morbidity and mortality
rates.
*************************
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and
empower women
- Ensuring gender equity and equality,
and the empowerment of women depends in part on overcoming cultural,
social and economic constraints that limit women's access to education,
as well as providing universal access to reproductive health services
that allow them to control their fertility.- Combating violence against women, and
removing social and family barriers to women's wider social participation
are essential.
*************************
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
- A healthy mother is the first step towards
a healthy child. Infant and child mortality are highest for the
youngest mothers and after closely spaced births. High fertility
reduces the provision of health care to children.- Unwanted children are more likely to
die than wanted ones. Providing universal access to reproductive
health care will help to prevent unwanted pregnancy.- The death of a mother increases the risk
that her children will die.
*************************
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
- The highest proportion of women's ill
health burden is related to their reproductive role. Universal
access to reproductive health care--including family planning;
care in pregnancy, during and after childbirth; and emergency
obstetric care--would reduce unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion
and maternal death, saving women's lives and the lives of their
children.- Promotion of delayed marriage reduces
the risks associated with too-early childbearing. Enabling women
to have fewer pregnancies reduces the lifetime risk of maternal
death and illness.- Women's empowerment will enable women
to address the social conditions that endanger their health and
lives.
*************************
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis,
malaria and other diseases
- Universal access to reproductive health
care is critically important in the fight against HIV/AIDS.- The ICPD notes that better information
on HIV/AIDS can prevent transmission of HIV and other STIs.- Half of new HIV infections are among
young people. Preventing infection means enabling young people
to protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases. This
includes teaching abstinence outside marriage, fidelity within
it and responsible behaviour at all times, including the responsible
use of condoms.- Poor countries need an adequate supply
of reproductive health commodities, including male and female
condoms, and strengthened systems for their supply and distribution.
*************************
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
- Balancing resource use and ecological
requirements will depend critically on population growth, location
and movements, on patterns of resource consumption, and management
of waste.- The ICPD acknowledges that rapid growth
of poor rural populations puts enormous stress on local environments.
Poor people need better education and health services, including
universal access to reproductive health care and family planning,
to improve their health and well-being.- Appropriate policies will reduce urban
migration and promote sustainable rural population growth.- The sustainable improvement of the lives
of slum and shanty dwellers will depend on policies to address
high urban growth rates, which result from both natural increase
and migration.
*************************
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership
for development
- Population and reproductive health programmes
have lagged in the least-developed countries, especially those
with high levels of mortality and unwanted fertility. These countries
will benefit most from higher international assistance and debt
forgiveness, as well as domestic resources for health and education.
They need universal access to reproductive health care coupled
with affordable prices for essential drugs for treating HIV/AIDS,
malaria and tuberculosis, and a secure supply of contraceptives
and other reproductive health commodities.- The ICPD called on international donors
to provide one third of the support needed for reproductive health
programmes in developing countries worldwide: $5.7 billion (of
the $17 billion total requirement) in 2000, rising to $7.2 billion
by 2015. Current international support is less than half of this
required level.
|
