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Second South Caucasus Youth Reproductive Health and Rights Forum in Batumi, Georgia

September 21, 2009 at 4:40 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Tags: EPF, Reproductive Health, reproductive rights, UNFPA

unfpa EPF_ White background On 12-13 September, EPF and UNFPA Georgia organised the Second South Caucasus Youth Reproductive Health and Rights Forum, which took place in Batumi, Georgia and hosted by the local Adjaran Government and Batumi City Hall. More than 70 participants from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and other European countries, including Government representatives, Parliamentarians, international organisations, such as UN and EC, civil society representatives and young people gathered in Batumi to present the achievements in improving the situation of the reproductive health of young people and their access to services as a result of the three year EC/UNFPA Reproductive Health Initiative for Youth in South Caucasus, a partnership led by UNFPA with the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development, with the generous support of the European Commission.

Through inter-country and country activities, the project has greatly contributed to the expansion of the sexual and reproductive health services in line with International Conference on Population and Development and Millennium Development Goals. Within the three years, 78 youth RH information and medical-information centres opened across the region; 1240 young peer educators received training and during the project duration already provided more than 40000 young people with information on their sexual and reproductive health and rights; over 2900 health care professionals received trainings on youth friendly reproductive health services and new legislative acts on reproductive health, family planning and healthy and harmonious education are in the process of development in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

Source: EPF

For more information please contact Marina Davidashvili at EPF

EU surpasses US as Top Donor in Population Assistance

September 2, 2009 at 11:33 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Tags: DSW, EPF, Euromapping, family planning, Funding, MDGs, reproductive health supplies

DSW and EPF remind European policy-makers of their commitments to Family Planning and Reproductive Health

Brussels, 1 September 2009. The collective efforts of the European Union (EU) have made it the single greatest donor of population assistance worldwide, as a joint study of the German Foundation for World Population (DSW) and the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (EPF) shows. According to the Euromapping 2009 report, in 2006 the EU spent nearly US$ 3 billion on population programmes and activities, increasing its aid by US$ 600 million. The US decreased its aid by nearly the same amount. To meet international commitments to provide universal access to reproductive health by 2015, donors must triple their financial support for population activities over the next four years.

At the Euromapping Press Conference, DSW Vice-Executive Director Karen Hoehn, welcomed this increasing trend in EU spending, but called on European governments to live up to their commitments to family planning and reproductive health made at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD): “The financial crisis will impact developing countries most severely; sustaining European support for ODA and population assistance is therefore imperative”. There are already worrying signs of dramatic cuts in official development assistance in 2009, noted Neil Datta, Secretary of EPF: “Given the leading position of the EU in the world, with 63% of the total ODA contributions, a failure to meet its targets will deliver a worrying message to the donor community in the run-up to 2015″.

At the same time, the Euromapping report finds that EU spending towards the health sector on the whole has decreased. “There is a direct link between maternal mortality rates and the lack of well-functioning health systems,” argued Susanne Weber-Mosdorf, Head of the EU office of the WHO, at the Euromapping press conference. “With this reduction, European donors save money at the very wrong end—and miss out on sustainable solutions”.

Despite the positive efforts of other international actors, the EU’s reduction marked a drop in global health spending, jeopardising international efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals. With the Committee on Development of the European Parliament discussing the 2010 budget this week, MEP Ms. Sophie in’t Veld called on her colleagues to live up to the commitments made on reproductive health and population issues: “We have to step up our political and financial support for the fifth Millennium Development Goal on maternal health,” said Ms. in’t Veld. “Let’s not abandon those who are dying needlessly in childbirth every day, but show them our continuing support especially in times of crisis”.

More information, graphic material and the Euromapping study report in English, French and German are available online at:
http://www.euroresources.org/euromapping

Report on Countdown 2015 study tour to Zambia

June 2, 2009 at 10:06 am | Posted in Study Tour | Leave a comment
Tags: AIDS, Countdown 2015, EPF, HIV, Parliamentary, PPAZ, RFSU, Study Tour, Zambia

A report on the study tour of European Parliamentarians to Zambia announced here has been released by EPF.

During their week-long stay in Zambia, from 16-23 May, European Parliamentarians from the Netherlands, the UK, Ireland, Scotland, Sweden and Azerbaijan gained first hand information about the population’s unmet sexual and reproductive health needs as well as the reproductive health situation in a country where young people represent more than 70% of the population, where the birth rate in rural areas, where nearly 60% of Zambia’s 12m population resides, is amongst the highest in Africa (between 6.9 and 7.5 children) and where the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate lies at 14.3%. 57% of people living with HIV/AIDS are women and the epidemic continues to pose one of the most significant development challenges to the country.

The joint study tour co-organised by the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU) and the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (EPF) was held in the framework of the Countdown 2015 Europe project and hosted by the Planned Parenthood Association of Zambia (PPAZ) and Youth Vision Zambia (YVZ). Focusing on the sexual reproductive health and rights situation as well as the availability of and access to reproductive health supplies, delegation participants were able to meet with the main stakeholders and decision makers in this field. These included the Ministry of Health, the Mayor of Lusaka and district commissioners of Lusaka, Kafue and Choma (the latter ones being rural areas) but also representatives of the donor community such as DFID, USAID, SIDA, the Worldbank and the EC Delegation in Zambia. Meetings with UNFPA representatives, Marie Stopes International, and various community and outreach projects in urban and rural areas complemented the picture of the SRHR and RHS situation on the ground in Zambia.

This wide range of stakeholders involved in meetings allowed the European delegation members to gain first-hand experience of domestic living conditions in both urban and rural areas, the complex inter-related development issues, and the relationship between NGOs, the public sector and the international community. “If every Zambian would use a condom, we could only have sex three times a year”, a PPAZ representative described the reproductive health supplies situation in his country. Lack of youth-friendly health services, a massive brain drain of health workers, especially doctors and nurses, the lack of well-trained health personnel as well as the poor access to health facilities, predominantly in rural areas, have been identified as challenges for the development of a strong health system in Zambia.

In spite the strong donor and government commitment to SRHR and contraceptive security, long-term funding for contraceptives remains inconsistent and stock-outs at health facilities are common. During a retreat meeting between Zambian MPs and the European Delegation members, focus was laid on the importance of a legislative enabling environment to ensure political long-term commitment for health and to enable Members of the Zambian Parliament to hold their government accountable on these commitments. The adoption of the draft law on Reproductive Health that has been under discussion for the past seven years now was identified as an essential step in the right direction.

For more information please contact: Nadine Krysostan or Saskia Pfeijffer at EPF or Lina Granlund at RFSU.

A detailed report about the study visit will be available on the RFSU and EPF website within a month.

Joint RFSU/EPF Study Tour brings European Parliamentarians to Zambia

May 14, 2009 at 10:14 am | Posted in Study Tour | Leave a comment
Tags: Countdown 2015, EPF, Parliamentary, PPAZ, reproductive health supplies, RFSU, RH Supplies, Study Tour, YVZ, Zambia

countdown2015b_new EPF_ White background rfsu

From 16-23 May 2009 the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU) and the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (EPF) will bring a six-member strong Parliamentary Delegation to Zambia. The study tour will be conducted in the framework of the Countdown 2015 Europe project and will raise awareness amongst delegation participants about the unmet sexual and reproductive health and rights needs of Zambians. A special focus of the tour will lay on the access and availability of reproductive health supplies (RHS). The study visit is kindly hosted the by the Planned Parenthood Association of Zambia (PPAZ) and Youth Vision Zambia (YVZ).

Almost fifty percent of Zambia’s population is below the age of 15. The HIV rate is among the highest in the world, and sexually transmitted infections are increasing, especially among the young. Even though the vision of the ongoing health care reform in Zambia is to provide equity of access to cost-effective quality health care as close to the family as possible and to significantly increase life expectancy in Zambia (which is currently at 38 years on average), the country is still faced with inequitable access to basic health services between provinces, urban and rural areas. Less than half (47%) of women were assisted by a trained health professional at their last birth, according to the Zambian Development and Health Survey. Low education status, lack of access to contraceptive information amongst young people, especially women of reproductive age, as well as poor involvement and participation of men in family planning services contribute to a low utilisation of family planning services and use of contraception in Zambia.

During their week-long stay, delegation members coming from the Netherlands, Ireland, the UK, Sweden, Azerbaijan and Scotland will have the opportunity to meet with government representatives, the Ministry of Health, Members of the Zambian Parliament, representatives of the EC-Delegation, UNFPA and USAID as well as with members of the Health Sector Donor Group to discuss the above mentioned issues with the relevant stakeholders.

The visits of in-country projects such as the Africa Direction Community based Youth Centre, the Young Men as Equal Partners Programme or the MSI outreach clinic will complement the delegation participant’s picture on the sexual and reproductive health situation in Zambia and will help contribute to a better understanding of the necessity to invest in reproductive health supplies as an essential precondition to reach the Millennium Development Goals.

For more information on the study visit to Zambia, please contact Nadine Krysostan, EPF Senior Advocacy Officer or Saskia Pfeijffer, EPF Programme Associate.