Women's Health: Icpd+5 And Beijing+5 - Brief Article

WIN News, Spring, 2000

ADRIENNE GERMAIN

FRANCOISE GIRARD

FROM "POPULI" by UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND (UNFPA)

220 East 42nd St., New York, NY 10017; Fax: (212) 557-6416

"[ldots]the United Nations five-year review of the implementation of the Platform for Action agreed at the Fourth World Conference on Women held in 1995 in Beijing - we should keep foremost in our minds the successful outcome of last year's ICPD 5 review. This review assessed the implementation of the Programme of Action of the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)[ldots]

The challenge at Beijing 5 will be to uphold and advance the ICPD 5 commitments, and to agree on similarly concrete targets for all aspects of women's health - as well as for the 11 other areas of concern of the Beijing Platform[ldots]The United Nations ICPD 5 review held in New York in June-July 1999 revealed heartening examples of progress at the national level. At the global level, reproductive health' and 'reproductive rights' are now part of the language of diplomacy.

Even governments that opposed the ICPD Programme of Action in 1994, turned, at ICPD 5, into staunch defenders of every word contained in it[ldots] The ICPD 5 review, however, brought alarming facts back to the world's attention. Worldwide, about 600,000 women still die every year, and some 18 million are left disabled or chronically ill, due to preventable complications of pregnancy and childbirth.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 330 million new sexually transmitted infections occur annually, at least half among young people. HIV/AIDS alone accounts for 6 million new infections every year[ldots]

Sexual violence is endemic and lethal, both within and outside marriage. At least 150 million women who want to limit their childbearing do not yet use contraception[ldots] Universal reproductive health is far from being a reality[ldots]

The ICPD 5 document sets the overarching principle that progress towards universal sexual and reproductive health should be measured not by a single indicator - contraceptive use - but by provision of, access to, and use of three fundamental services, namely:

- the widest achievable range of safe and effective family planning and contraception; essential obstetric care by skilled attendants; and prevention and management of reproductive tract infections, including sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV/AIDS, especially for young people - including access to male and Female condoms and microbicides, if available.

First, governments agreed to mobilize resources to provide the widest possible range of contraceptive methods[ldots]Second, governments reached a set of agreements to address the unacceptably high levels of maternal mortality and morbidity. They specified actions to reduce the 78,000 maternal deaths and millions of injuries and illnesses caused by unsafe abortion every year.

The ICPD 5 document states that 'in circumstances where abortion is not against the law, health systems should train and equip health-service providers and should take other measures to ensure that such abortion is safe and accessible[ldots]

Governments also agreed that in countries where maternal mortality is very high, skilled attendants should assist at least 40 percent of all births by 2005; at least 50 percent by 2010; and at least 60 percent by 2015[ldots]

Third, recognizing that the HIV/AIDS pandemic is far more serious than had been understood in Cairo, the ICPD 5 document reiterates the importance of providing access to male condoms, and calls for wide provision of female condoms.

In the context of HIV/AIDS, it is worth mentioning that adolescents' right to sexual and reproductive health information and services was hotly debated - as it had been in Cairo[ldots] Governments also agreed to provide sexuality education at all levels of schooling[ldots]

In the wake of this success, action is needed on two fronts. At Beijing 5, the important new agreements made at ICPD 5 with respect to sexual and reproductive health must be protected and advanced. In addition, similarly specific commitments to take concrete, measurable steps towards implementation of the Beijing Platform must be made[ldots]

To meet these basic health goals, policy makers, health professionals, researchers and advocates, working together with the leadership and staff of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), now need to generate broad political will to move more quickly[ldots]We must also respect and promote the human rights of women, and work to eliminate violence, discrimination and other factors that continue to jeopardize women s health. We have the plan - let's act on it now.

Adrienne Germain is President and Francoise Girard is Senior Programme Officer for International Policy, International Women's Health Coalition (IWHC), 24 E.21 St. New York, NY 10010."