UN Population Fund to continue supporting gov’t RH programs

MANILA, Philippines – The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) yesterday declared support for the Philippine government’s efforts in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, particularly its reproductive health program.

In a statement, the UNFPA said reducing maternal deaths and ensuring universal access to reproductive health, including family planning, remain the top priorities of the agency and of the Aquino administration as these are among the targets least likely to be achieved by 2015.

“The United Nations continues to support the government’s commitment for a life of health and dignity of all Filipinos by ensuring that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV and AIDS, and women and girls are treated with dignity and respect,” UNFPA said.

“In keeping with President Aquino’s universal health care agenda, the UN will continue to assist government to promote, protect and fulfill every Filipino’s right to freely decide on the timing, number and spacing of their children, with the support of other development partners,” it said.

Global studies show that up to 30 percent of maternal deaths and as much as 20 percent of infant deaths can be averted by ensuring access to voluntary family planning, including access to contraceptives, the UNFPA said.

The UNFPA said the two other strategies to reduce maternal deaths are provision of skilled birth attendants at birth and access to life-saving services during delivery, which are also part of the UN’s development assistance in the Philippines.

“In recognition of government’s renewed efforts to ensure that women and girls, especially the poor and marginalized, do not die of preventable causes during pregnancy and childbirth, the UN has increased and will sustain its support to maternal and neonatal health programs in the Philippines,” it said.

The MDGs are eight international development goals that all 193 UN member-states, including the Philippines, and at least 23 international organizations, have agreed to achieve by the year 2015.

They include eradicating extreme poverty, reducing child mortality rates, fighting disease epidemics such as AIDS, and developing a global partnership for development.

President Aquino had included the Reproductive Health (RH) bill in his list of priority measures.

The RH bill seeks to provide universal access to reproductive health services. The measure is still being debated in Congress.

The UNFPA has urged member states and development partners to support access for reproductive health for women.

UNFPA executive director Babatunde Osotimehin said member states, including the Philippines, and development partners should take immediate action to facilitate universal access to reproductive health.

He said that investing in the health and rights of women and young people is not expenditure but an investment for the future.

One of the most urgent actions required is the closing of the $24-billion gap in funding required to finance programs to meet the needs of 1.8 billion young people and 1.8 billion women of childbearing age globally.

A recent report by the UN revealed family planning and demographic change alone had reduced poverty by one-seventh in developing countries between 1960 and 2000, and could produce another one-seventh drop in poverty levels by 2015.

If existing requirements for modern contraceptives were met, according to the report, nearly 100,000 maternal deaths could be averted and unintended pregnancies could be cut by 71 percent.

Osotimehin said some 215 million women in developing countries who want to plan and space their births do not have access to modern contraception. –-Helen Flores (The Philippine Star) with Pia Lee-Brago, Sheila Crisostomo