Brussels, 13/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - Universal access to family planning, safe motherhood and the prevention of HIV/AIDS will be at the heart of discussions at the international workshop to be held in Brussels on Wednesday 14 and Thursday 15 October. The event has been organised on the initiative of the European Commission and the Secretariat of the ACP (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific) group, in cooperation with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). The workshop provides the opportunity for the European Union and the countries of the ACP group which receive European aid in this area to take stock and draw the lessons of the European contribution to the realisation of the Cairo action programme.
The Cairo programme, implemented in partnership with the UNFPA and the IPPF, ended almost exactly a year ago. With its contribution of €32 million over six years (2007-2013), the European Commission provided sexual and reproductive health services and products to the most vulnerable populations of 22 ACP countries linked to the EU by the Cotonou Agreement (Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Jamaica, Niger, Rwanda, Surinam, Tanzania, Congo, Dominican Republic, Gambia, Haiti, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritania, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tuvalu, and Zambia).
“Promoting universal sexual and reproductive health and rights is an essential step to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. It is important to support women's right of choice in family planning and to fight against intolerable maternal mortality rates,” says Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Karel De Gucht.
IPPF provided assistance to more than 1.6 million people through NGO clinics and youth centres and newly created mobile clinics in 13 countries. This assistance was supplemented by public awareness-raising initiatives and advocacy targeted at politicians and policy makers. Some 750 professional staff and 3,400 volunteers were trained.
UNFPA's efforts focussed on supporting government structures in the formulation and implementation of reproductive health policies and on awareness-raising. More than 8,700 medical teams and 21,500 non-health professionals were trained on sexual and reproductive health topics. (A.N./transl.rt)