|
|
|
OPINION
|
HUMAN NUMBERS, HUMAN BEINGS
By Jane Roberts
The total population of the earth surpassed one billion in the second half of the 19th century. Today, the earth's population numbers 6.2 billion, and one in six is between the ages of 15 and 24. Thus, one sixth of our population is in or nearing its "reproductive" years. Demographers predict a world population of close to nine billion by the year 2050. Human misery will surpass what it is today; environmental stresses will continue to increase; and we will see heightened conflicts over precious resources, primarily clean water. This is not a pretty picture.
The year 2004 will mark the 10th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development, which took place in Cairo, Egypt. The 20-year Plan of Action adopted by 179 countries at Cairo called for universal literacy. It also called for the opening up of civil society to women and for the decreasing of infant mortality rates as much as possible. The most crucial part of the document called for universal access to knowledge about and affordable access to methods of family planning. Abortion was not to be considered a method of family planning. However, with 40 women in the developing world seeking unsafe abortions each minute, it is clear that women themselves turn to abortion when desperate.
Implementing the Plan of Action was estimated to cost between 17 billion and 20 billion dollars per year. Funds have fallen short of promises. International donors have furnished 44 percent of what they pledged, developing countries about 66 percent. The yearly allocations of the United States, moreover, come in last when looked at as a percentage of GDP. As a result of the unsatisfying financial support of the Cairo plan, its effects have been limited. For instance, women still represent two thirds of the world's illiterate.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), with an annual budget of about 350 million dollars, is the largest supplier of reproductive health care and family planning to the world. It partners with over 140 countries and numerous NGOs to bring safe motherhood and family planning to the world's people. UNFPA is also part of UN-AIDS and is involved in public dissemination of information against early marriage, female genital cutting, and discrimination against women and girls. Combating violence against women either in the home or in areas of conflict and refugee camps comes under its purview. A new initiative against the scourge of obstetric fistula is gaining world recognition as well.
Every year UNFPA puts out a State of World Population report. This year's is entitled "Making 1 Billion Count: Investing in Adolescents' Health and Rights." As the title suggests, the world seems destined to ignore the "youth bulge" at its peril. Indeed, young people are human numbers, but also human beings. They are contracting the HIV virus at a rate of 14 per minute. Unless given an education, and hope for a meaningful future, what will these young people do? What choices will they make? The world must invest in their education and health. The world's top priority must be making family planning available to the 150 million families to whom it is not currently available and filling the educational and reproductive health needs of the young.
Supporting UNFPA should be considered part of a worldwide social contract. More than 130 countries allocate funds to the organization, yet in 2002, the Bush Administration refused to release the 34 million dollars Congress had approved. In reaction, Lois Abraham and I started asking 34 million Americans who appreciate their doctors in the delivery room, contraceptive choices, and university health clinics to give one dollar to send the world and our own government a message. This is a very idealistic effort and the results have been heartening. The American people are reaching out to the world for women's reproductive health.
When the world takes care of women, women take care of the world. But our world today is not doing enough. The cost-benefit return of actually implementing the Cairo Plan of Action would be off the charts. Thus, we must all commit to making education for all and international family planning and reproductive health care a part of the national and international political dialogue.
Jane Roberts, M.A., is a co-founder of 34 Million Friends of the United Nations Population Fund (www.34millionfriends.org) and was the 2003 recipient of The Special Recognition Award for founding the grass roots campaign "34 Million Friends of UNFPA" by the Population, Family Planning, and Reproductive Health Section of the American Public Health Association. She can be reached at julianrob@aol.com.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
