The themes that animate UNFPA's Annual Report for 1997 are ones that have become familiar since the ICPD in 1994. Reproductive health, including family planning and sexual health, remained the focus of the Fund's work during 1997, with programmes in the area of adolescent reproductive health playing an increasingly important role.

In this annual report, we draw attention to the many different ways in which UNFPA is working to reduce poverty by meeting reproductive health needs in developing countries, especially among the poorest and most vulnerable.

This publication highlights the importance of the ICPD Programme of Action, the "Cairo+5" discussions and subsequent experience and agreements as we mobilize to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Countries are making real progress in carrying out a bold global action plan that links poverty alleviation to women's rights and universal access to reproductive health. Ten years into the new era opened by the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, the quality and reach of family planning programmes have improved, safe motherhood and HIV prevention efforts are being scaled up, and governments embrace the ICPD Programme of Action as an essential blueprint for realizing development goals.

This overview of UNFPAs work in 2004 focuses on efforts to improve reproductive health, ensure safe motherhood, address population issues, prevent HIV and help people in crises. It includes examples of UNFPA's work in every region, facts and figures on the kinds of projects we support, and details about where the funding comes from and how it is spent.