Press releases
Press release
Experts to Examine European Population Trends and Policies
06 January 2004
<p> <b>GENEVA, Switzerland</b> -- International experts on population and reproductive health will meet at the Palais des Nations in Geneva from 12-14 January 2004 to examine key issues in Europe and North America, their causes, consequences and policy responses.</p>
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Arab Parliamentarians Urge Governments to Meet Reproductive Health Needs
22 December 2003
<p class="bodytext"> <b>UNITED NATIONS, New York</b> – A lack of funds for population and reproductive health programmes is widening the gap between rich and poor countries and increasing maternal deaths and HIV/AIDS infections, Arab parliamentarians declared earlier this month.</p>
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Record Number of Donors Support UNFPA in 2003
19 December 2003
<p> <b>UNITED NATIONS, New York</b> – UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, received contributions from 142 of the 191 United Nations Member States in 2003, the largest number of donors in the Fund’s history.</p>
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Making Knowledge Real
17 December 2003
<p> <b>New York</b> — The portable Knowledge Asset Development System (pKADS), a knowledge sharing tool used to collect, distill and synthesize lessons learned in a way that would improve results and inform policy and development strategies, was released during the World Summit for the Information Society in Geneva last week.</p>
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UNFPA Welcomes African Experts' Declaration that Population Programmes are Indispensable to Poverty Reduction
16 December 2003
<p class="bodytext"> <b>UNITED NATIONS, New York</b>—UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, today welcomed African experts’ strong appeal for greater investments in population programmes, which they described as indispensable to poverty reduction and economic development in Africa.</p>
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Obstetric Fistula is a Widespread Problem in South Asia, Says UNFPA
12 December 2003
<p class="bodytext"> <b>UNITED NATIONS, New York</b> – Obstetric fistula, the most devastating of all pregnancy-related disabilities, affects tens of thousands of girls and women in South Asia, said UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, at the first South Asia Conference for the Prevention and Treatment of Fistula, held in Dhaka, Bangladesh this week.</p>
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World Should Promote Zero Tolerance for Violence Against Women, Says UNFPA
25 November 2003
<p> <b>UNITED NATIONS, New York</b> – Women and girls should be safe in their homes, on the streets, in the workplace and in school, Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, UNFPA Executive Director, said today on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination on Violence against Women.</p>
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Caribbean Reaffirms Commitment to Reproductive Health, Gender Equality
12 November 2003
<p> <b>PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago</b> – Twenty Caribbean countries and territories today reaffirmed their unequivocal <a href="http://www.unfpa.org/publications/index.cfm?ID=176">commitment to the action programme of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)</a>.</p>
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Maternal Deaths Nearly Triple in Iraq, Survey Shows
04 November 2003
<p> <b>UNITED NATIONS, New York</b> – The number of women who die of pregnancy and childbirth in Iraq has nearly tripled since 1990, according to a <a href="http://149.120.32.2/rh/docs/iraq-rept04-08-03.doc">reproductive health survey</a> conducted by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.</p>
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UNFPA Calls Decade of "Missing" Girls, Discrimination, Alarming
28 October 2003
<p> <b>UNITED NATIONS, New York</b> — A new booklet, which consolidates data that show a shocking decline in the number of girls compared to boys in India during the last decade due to the elimination of girls by sex-selective abortion and infanticide, has drawn strong responses.</p>
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Timely Emergency Obstetric Care for Pregnant Women Will Spur Progress to Curb Maternal Mortality
21 October 2003
KUALA LUMPUR – Obstetric complications continue to be a leading cause of death and disability for women of reproductive age in developing countries. Over half a million women die during pregnancy and childbirth each year, the majority in Africa and Asia.
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Maternal Deaths Disproportionately High in Developing Countries
20 October 2003
<p> <b>NEW YORK/GENEVA</b> -- New findings on maternal mortality by WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA show that a woman living in sub-Saharan Africa has a 1 in 16 chance of dying in pregnancy or childbirth.</p>
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