Universal Access to Reproductive Health Key to Eliminating Poverty
Washington, DC - October 10, 2006The international reproductive health community celebrated last week when the United Nations General Assembly endorsed a new target—universal access to reproductive health by 2015—under Millennium Development Goal 5, the reduction of maternal mortality by three quarters. By including this new target, the world takes a giant step towards reducing the devastatingly high level of maternal mortality.
The absence of this target has always been a glaring omission in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG)—an international strategy for the elimination of poverty. At the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo in 1994, 179 countries pledged to achieve universal access to sexual and reproductive health by 2015. In 2000, however, the Millennium Declaration and its subsequent MDGs made no mention of this—despite the fact that sexual and reproductive health are inextricably linked to nearly every single MDG. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan himself recognized that “…the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger cannot be achieved if questions of population and reproductive health are not squarely addressed.”
Universal access to reproductive health is critical to fighting the war on poverty. When women and couples don’t have access to reproductive health supplies and services, they are at higher risk of unintended pregnancies, HIV or other sexually transmitted infections (STI). As a result, families often face heavy financial and social burdens, forcing them into a life of poverty.
The adoption of this target is a landmark decision. It is time to call on governments to live up to their commitment to the MDGs by allocating the resources to make reproductive health services—including family planning—available and accessible for all who want them.The international reproductive health community celebrated last week when the United Nations General Assembly endorsed a new target—universal access to reproductive health by 2015—under Millennium Development Goal 5, the reduction of maternal mortality by three quarters. By including this new target, the world takes a giant step towards reducing the devastatingly high level of maternal mortality.
The absence of this target has always been a glaring omission in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG)—an international strategy for the elimination of poverty. At the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo in 1994, 179 countries pledged to achieve universal access to sexual and reproductive health by 2015. In 2000, however, the Millennium Declaration and its subsequent MDGs made no mention of this—despite the fact that sexual and reproductive health are inextricably linked to nearly every single MDG. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan himself recognized that “…the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger cannot be achieved if questions of population and reproductive health are not squarely addressed.”
Universal access to reproductive health is critical to fighting the war on poverty. When women and couples don’t have access to reproductive health supplies and services, they are at higher risk of unintended pregnancies, HIV or other sexually transmitted infections (STI). As a result, families often face heavy financial and social burdens, forcing them into a life of poverty.
The adoption of this target is a landmark decision. It is time to call on governments to live up to their commitment to the MDGs by allocating the resources to make reproductive health services—including family planning—available and accessible for all who want them.
Population Action International (PAI) works to improve individual well-being and preserve global resources by mobilizing political and financial support for population, family planning and reproductive health policies and programs.
