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| Sunday, 26 September 2004 |
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World Population Report 2004 : Towards a better future for all Ten years after the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, the world needs its vision of human-centred development more than ever. Today's challenges - including security concerns, the continuing spread of HIV/AIDS and persistent poverty alongside unprecedented prosperity - make it imperative to carry out the Cairo agenda so that its dream of a better future for all is realised, says the State of the World Population Report 2004, released last week. The report, 'The Cairo Consensus at Ten: Population, Reproductive Health and the Global Effort to End Poverty' says that though governments around the world have strongly reaffirmed their commitment to the Cairo Convention's programme of action, much more need to be done to ensure reproductive health and rights including those of the world's 1.3 billion adolescents, to promote safe motherhood and to stem the spread of HIV/AIDS. The quality and reach of family planning programmes have improved, safe motherhood and HIV prevention efforts are being scaled up, and governments embrace the ICDP Programme of Action as an essential blueprint for realising development goals. But inadequate resources, gender bias and gaps in serving the poor and adolescents are undermining further progress as challenges mount, the report states. The Cairo Convention adopted by 179 countries sought to balance the world's people with its resources, improve women's status and ensure universal access to reproductive health care, including family planning. But, ten years after Cairo, more than 350 million couples still lack access to a full range of family planning services; complications of pregnancy and child birth remain a leading cause of death and illness among women with 529,000 dying each year, mostly from preventable causes; five million new HIV infections occurred during 2003 and with the world population expecting to increase from the existing 6.4 billion to 8.9 billion in 2050, the 50 poorest countries will triple in size, to 1.7 billion people, says the report. However, improvement is seen in all spheres, states the report. Nearly all the developing countries surveyed report they have incorporated population concerns in their development and poverty-reduction strategies; many have established laws and policies to protect women's and girls' rights; and many have begun to integrate reproductive health services into primary health care, improve facilities and training and expand access. Use of modern contraception has risen from 55 per cent in couples to 61 per cent today. To reduce maternal deaths and injuries emphasis is being placed on attended delivery, emergency obstetric care and referral systems. Countries have stepped up efforts to fight HIV/AIDS through prevention, treatment, care and support. Adolescent reproductive health has become an emerging worldwide concern. And campaigns against gender-based violence are gaining broad support, the report states. |
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