FG, UNDP, UNFPA Want Improved Collaboration to Cut Mortality Rate
James Emejo in Abuja
The federal government and its development partners including the
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) have charged governments and authorities in developing
countries to focus more on gender-sensitive developmental programmes as a
strategic option of reducing high child and maternal mortality rates
globally.
In their unanimous voice for policy-driven developmental programmes for
improved care for teenage girls and women at the occasion of the 20th
Anniversary of the Partners in Population Development (PPD) in Abuja,
the federal government noted that the challenges of maternal mortality
and socio-economic inequalities called for a more collaborative and
proactive effort.
In his keynote address at the forum, the Minister of National Planning
Commission (NPC), Alhaji Abubakar Sulaiman, explained that it was in
demonstration of Nigeria’s commitment to ensuring that the key
objectives set in the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population
and Development (ICPD), that the federal government has been
implementing various transformational programmes for the country’s
sustainable development.
Sulaiman, who commended the founding fathers of the organisation for
their visionary leadership that led to its establishment 20 years ago,
identified high maternal mortality rate, abortion and teenage pregnancy
as amongst the most crucial issues that should pre-occupy
member-countries in their developmental programmes in order to reverse
the ugly trends.
Represented by the acting Secretary of the Commission, Mr. Bassey
Akpayung, the minister canvassed, as a step towards addressing the
problems of gender inequality, reducing child mortality and improving
maternal health on a global scale, the need for the 26 PPD
member-countries to rally for the protection of the girls and women in
various countries.
He said: “Part of the challenge before us which we should not lose
sight of in celebrating PPD at 20, is the need to confront the
staggering statistics of 800 women dying daily from causes related to
pregnancy or childbirth. Young women in developing countries are still
caught in the web of unsafe abortions.
“They urgently need our protection. Going forward also, we must reflect
on the post-2015 terminal date of the MDGs and accelerate efforts in
addressing Goals 3, 4 and 5 bordering on promotion of gender equality
and women; reducing child mortality and improving maternal health
respectively,” the minister added.
In his remarks, the UN Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident
Representative in Nigeria, Mr. Daouda Toure, described the PPD as one of
the organisations that could help in tackling the challenges of poverty
and social inequalities in the world that should be supported by
national governments on a worldwide scale.
He restated the UN System’s continued commitment to partnering with its
member-countries in their efforts to reducing poverty, infant mortality
and other related challenges facing the poor and other vulnerable
groups, particularly in Nigeria and other developing countries.
The Resident Representative of the United Nations Population Fund,
UNFPA, Ratidzal Ndhlovu, who reflected specifically on the
socio-economic problems of teenagers and women in Nigeria, noted that
these problems were prevalent because of the marginalisation of
uneducated girls and women in developmental programmes.
She therefore explained that it was up to the governments in developing
countries and other stakeholders as partners in population development
to be the advocates of gender-friendly programmes that would reduce the
problems of the vulnerable girls and women in the country and ensure
democratic dividends for millions of the socially disadvantaged millions
of Nigerians.
The 26-member PPD, which is an inter-governmental organisation
established following the birth at Cairo International Conference on
Population and Development (ICPD), in 1994, is committed to expanding
and improving South-South Cooperation in the fields of population and
development.
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