Further reading on UNFPA |
Dramatic reduction of maternal deaths is within reachGuttmacher Institute and UNFPA Release New Study Targeted Investments Can Also Radically Reduce Unintended Pregnancies and Unsafe Abortion and Lower Poverty LevelsLondon, 3 December, 2009 – Maternal deaths in developing countries could be slashed by 70% and newborn deaths cut nearly in half if the world doubled investment in family planning and pregnancy-related care, shows a new report by the Guttmacher Institute and UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. Currently, more than half a million maternal deaths and 3.5 million newborn deaths, many of them easily preventable, occur each year in developing countries. The new report, Adding It Up: The Costs and Benefits of Investing in Family Planning and Maternal and Newborn Health, also found that investments in family planning boost the overall effectiveness of every dollar spent on the provision of pregnancy-related and newborn health care. Simultaneously investing in both family planning and maternal and newborn services can achieve the same dramatic outcomes for $1.5 billion less than investing in maternal and newborn health services alone. |MORE All Adding It Up materials are available at http://www.guttmacher.org and http://www.unfpa.org. |
US Funding for UNFPA Will be Restored By Jodi Jacobson Last night [March 5, 2009] sane heads prevailed and the Senate voted to defeat the Wicker Amendment to the omnibus bill that could once again have been used to limit US funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The vote was 55 to 39 against the amendment. When is Future Choices aired in your community? Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) lead the effort to defeat the Wicker amendment which would have continued the bad on U.S. funding for UNFPA. The Omnibus bill includes $50 million for UNFPA, an organization that seeks to improve access to basic family planning services, including contraception to help women avoid unintended pregnancy, and essential maternal health, pre- and post-natal care, and emergency obstetric care aimed at reducing maternal and infant mortality. Deaths due to complications of pregnancy and unsafe abortion remain leading killers of women in many countries of the world. UNFPA is an essential partner in efforts to reduce the high rates of death among women and the toll such deaths take on families and communities. US funding for UNFPA had become a political football during the Bush Administration, and was held up by baseless charges that the organization contributed to abuses under China's one-child family policy. No credible evidence has ever been found to prove this charge. |MORE |
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This page last updated December 8, 2009 7:41 .








