Advocacy for Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS Integration at G8 Parliamentarians Conference

The “G8 Parliamentarians Conference on the Economic Rewards for Investing in HIV/AIDS Prevention and Health” was jointly organized by the Parliamentary Advisory Committee of Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevolkerung, the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (EPF) and Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevolkerung (DSW) at the German Parliament in Berlin on 30 – 31 May 2007.

The leading parliamentarians, policy-makers and members of think tanks from the G8 countries as well as beneficiary organizations, governments and key stakeholders of official G8 assistance participated at the Annual G8 Heads-of-State Summit. The purpose of this conference was to foster meaningful dialogue among the participants on the main subject to be raised at the G8 Heads-of-State Summit.

Partcipants of the Conference

Partners in Population and Development (PPD) was invited to share its views on RH in Africa and contribute in the discussion. Mr. Harry S. Jooseery represented PPD in the conference and presented a paper entitled “Integrating HIV/AIDS within Sexual and Reproductive Health Programme in the Context of South-South Cooperation” under the session on “Funding for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and the Chances of Public-Private Partnership (PPP).”

In his speech, Mr. Jooseery stressed that “there is an urgent need to reposition Family Planning within the whole context of Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS Program”. He further emphasized that “Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS needs to be addressed synergistically, without underscoring one at the expense of the other”. “South-South Cooperation is based on the premise that developing countries have a wealth of knowledge, experience and expertise which if effectively shared among themselves, can marvel and sprinkle extraordinary energy that can reshape their own destiny”. Mr. Jooseery’s speech was well received and the views expressed in his speech were taken into due consideration for preparation of conference outcomes. The event adopted a Parliamentary Appeal to G8 Heads-of-State and a set of Recommendations for the G8 Summit.

UN Commission on Population and Development, 9-13 April 2007

The 40th Session of the UN Commission on Population and Development, which took place at the United Nations, New York, from 9 to 13 April 2007, had as its main theme the Changing Age Structures of Populations and Their Implications for Development. In the Session, special attention was given to the issues related to the aging population as well as, to the problems being faced by the adolescents and young people in many developing countries.

In her statement at the opening session, Dr Thoraya Obaid, Executive Director, UNFPA pointed out that the amount of support given to the family planning sector had currently declined to 9 percent from 55 percent in 1994 and gave emphasis on greater support towards reproductive health services, including family planning. Her concern was that otherwise the objective of providing universal reproductive health services by 2015 would not be met.

Mr Jiang Fan, Vice Minister of the National Population and Family Commission of China, in his statement, stressed the need “to advance South-South cooperation” and “to reinforce policy dialogues and experience sharing.” “We call for greater support and assistance to the PPD, an intergovernmental organization of developing countries for population and development, so that PPD may play a better role in this concern.”

In a similar vein, Dr Sugiri Syarief, Chairman, National Family Planning Coordination Board (BKKBN) of Indonesia, called on the international community and donors “to strengthen the South-South cooperation through PPD. As the members of PPD represent more than half of the world’s population, sustaining population policies and programmes in Member States of PPD will have greater impact on the global population dynamic and the group’s development programmes.”

PPD was represented at the Session by Mr Jyoti Shankar Singh, Partners’ Permanent Observer to the United Nations.

The Executive Director Meets the Chair

Mr. Harry Jooseery met with H.E. Mr. Zhang Weiqing, Chair of PPD and Minister of National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC), Government of the People’s Republic of China in Beijing on 8 May 2007 in the office of the Chair. The Executive Director reported the wide range of governance and programmatic activities to the Honorable Chair and sought his guidance and support for their continuing implementation.

PPD Executive Director updating the Honourable Chair on Programmatic Activities

The Chair was informed on the progress made in different activities under the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between PPD and Government of the Peoples Republic of China on Capacity Development, Transfer of Technology and Expertise and Commodity Security and Supply. Satisfied on the Progress made, the Chair hoped for a sustained growth and stressed on the importance of addressing global environment change in PPD Program. The ED had discussion with Dr. Zhao Baige, Vice Minister, NPFPC and Dr. Hao Linna, Director-General, NPFPC at a meeting on 7 May 2007.

The discussion included the organization of 2007 Annual Board Meeting, Executive Committee Meeting and an International Forum consecutively scheduled to be held in the first week of November 2007. Government of Pakistan has graciously offered to host these events in Islamabad.

Consultative Meeting in Taicang China

Around 34 experts from fifteen developing countries met from 10 to 15 May 2007 at China Training Center (CTC) in Taicang, People’ Republic of China to review, discuss and make recommendations on the training and research needs of Partner Institutions. The experts discussed the findings from the assessment on the capabilities of 17 Partner Institutions and the documentation on priority issues and strategies for the achievement of ICPD PoA and MDGs. The collection of information in member states’ institutions, Anglophone Africa, Francophone Africa, South-East Asia and Arab Countries were initiated and conducted by PPD with the support of UNFPA.

The major objectives of the Consultative Meeting were:

1. To assess training and research needs in population, gender and reproductive health in Africa, Asia and the Arab region;

2. To map out the various training programs those are currently being implemented by Partner Institutions to help build analytical capacities of developing countries in the same areas;

3. To assess the training gaps in population, gender and reproductive health areas and to suggest modalities to address those gaps;

4. To identify research needs and propose a strategy to address them; and

5. To assess capabilities of Partner Institutions in facilitating cooperation among developing countries themselves through South-South Cooperation.

Participants of the Workshop

The experts’ discussions revealed that training and research capabilities of Partner Institutions need to be strengthened in areas such as Population and Poverty, Reproductive Health, Gender, Advocacy and Policy. Following this meeting, PPD will organized in mid June a consultative meeting with experts for the development of modules in these priority areas.

“Population 'faces risk of rebound' in China”
says the Chair of PPD

The top family planning official in China has warned that the world's most populous country could face a "population rebound" because the newly rich are ignoring population control laws and because of early marriages in rural areas. The family planning policy, implemented in China in the late 1970s, limits most urban couples to one child and rural families to two in an attempt to control population growth and conserve natural resources. But rising incomes mean some newly rich families can afford to break the rules and pay the resulting fines, while the traditional desire for sons encourages some rural families to also flout the rules.

In response to the widespread rule-breaking, HE Mr. Zhang Weiqing, Director of the NPFPC, said the country's currently low birth rate may be unsustainable and that the risk of a "population rebound" was very real. He also made his concern on the early marriages which are still prevalent in some parts of the country, especially in rural areas, which goes against the family planning policy.

According to the Constitution, men may marry at the age of 22, and women at 20. The country's family planning policy, which has been in place since the 1970s, encourages late marriages and late childbearing. However, Mr. Zhang noticed the widening wealth gap had challenged the country's family planning efforts as wealthy people simply ignored the decades-old one-child policy and paid to have as many children as they wanted.

The number of rich people and celebrities having more than one child has been increasing rapidly, and nearly 10 percent of the people in this group have three, according to a recent survey by the NPFPC. Concern was raised as young couples who were born in the 1970s and 1980s and raised as only children are also allowed to have second children, which had contributed to the rising birth rate in some central and western provinces.

The NPFPC will continue to offer preferential services to couples who abide by the family planning policy, Mr. Zhang said, adding that the government would increase its spending on family planning to 30 yuan ($3.80) per person during the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-10).

New Program Officers in PPD Secretariat

Two new Program Officers joined PPD secretariat in Dhaka. They are –

1. Dr. Riffat Hossain Lucy
2. Dr. Shariful Islam

Click the name to see their Biography.