PHM-Exch> UN AND WORLD BANK VOICE CONCERNS ABOUT FUNDING FOR FAMILY PLANNING

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Vern Weitzel <vern.weitzel at gmail.com>
crossposted from: "[health-vn discussion group]" <health-vn at anu.edu.au>

From: UNNews <UNNews at un.org>

UN AND WORLD BANK VOICE CONCERNS ABOUT FUNDING FOR FAMILY PLANNING
New York, Jul  1 2009  5:00PM
Family planning and other reproductive health services for women have fallen
off
the development radar of many poor countries, donors and aid agencies,
according
to the United Nations and the World Bank, which are warning of the impact
this
will have on already high maternal mortality rates.

New preliminary figures from the <"http://www.worldbank.org/">World Bank
show
that official global development aid for health increased from $2.9 billion
in
1995 to $14.1 billion in 2007, or roughly a five-fold increase in 12 years.

During the same period, aid for population and reproductive health made a
more
modest increase from $901 million to $1.9 billion.

The global economic crisis has compounded the lack of funding for such
programmes, thereby jeopardizing the achievement of the Millennium
Development
Goal (MDG) for maternal health, which is already lagging behind.

“With the financial crisis and the reduction in budgets for health, this
goal
will be even harder to realize,” Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of
the
UN Population Fund (<"http://www.unfpa.org/public/News/pid/3008">UNFPA),
said at
a meeting at the World Bank, ahead of this year’s World Population Day,
observed
on 11 July.

“It is not a lack of knowledge that is hindering progress; it is a lack of
political will to protect the health and rights of women,” she stated.

UNFPA estimates that more than 500,000 women die each year during pregnancy
and
childbirth from mostly preventable and treatable medical problems. For every
woman who dies, another 20 women suffer injuries and disabilities that can
last
a lifetime.

Africa has the world’s highest rates of maternal mortality – at least 100
times
those in developed countries, the agency adds.

Joy Phumaphi, Vice President for Human Development at the World Bank, said
the
global economic downturn has become a development emergency for women
because
they are among the first to suffer when crises strike. But the troubles did
not
start with the onset of the financial crisis.

“Even before this crisis began, family planning and reproductive health had
fallen off the radar of low-income countries, aid donors, and development
agencies — with the result that we’ve lost precious time in helping women
get
access to these vital health services, and helping countries get on a faster
track to reducing poverty,” she stated.
________________

For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news
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