Decline In International Funding For Reproductive Health Threatening Efforts To Meet MDGs, U.N. Report Says

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 17 Apr 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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A decline in international funding for reproductive health and family planning services is threatening efforts to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which include improving maternal and infant health, according to a United Nations report released last week at a conference, Inter Press Service reports.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said a significant decline in funding is "especially evident" for family planning services, "where absolute dollar amounts are lower than they were in 1995." He added if this trend is not reversed, it will have "serious implications for the ability of countries to address the unmet need for such services and could undermine efforts to prevent unintended pregnancies and reduce maternal and infant mortality." UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid -- while addressing the weeklong meeting of the U.N. Commission on Population and Development that ended Friday -- said funding for family planning as a percentage of all population assistance has decreased from 55% in 1995 to 7% in 2005. She added that there are about 200 million women in developing countries with unmet needs for effective contraception, the highest being in Africa.

The International Conference on Population and Development in 1994 estimated that about 8% of total population assistance would be used to fight STIs, including HIV/AIDS. However, actual spending in 2005 for STIs increased to 72%, while funding for family planning services declined to 7% and reproductive health services declined to 17%. Funding for research and analysis increased to 4% during the same time, Inter Press Service reports. The report predicted that funding for HIV/AIDS-related activities will continue to increase.

"The victims of this funding gap are poor women in poor countries who cannot exercise their reproductive rights and plan their families," Obaid said. She added, "The result is increasing numbers of unwanted pregnancies, rising rates of unsafe abortion and increased risks to the lives of women and children." Obaid said, "Sexual and reproductive health is essential to women's empowerment and gender equality. And family planning is key to maternal and child health."

The report noted that "[t]here are fears that the larger share of funding that goes to AIDS activities might distract the attention for the necessary funding for the other three elements of the population package." It added that although the HIV/AIDS crisis is far worse than anticipated, infant, child and maternal mortality "remain unacceptably high" in many countries. In addition, health care costs have increased substantially since 1994, the report said. As a result, it is "essential that all governments, of both donor and developing countries, recommit themselves to implementing the objectives of the [1994] conference and mobilizing the resources required to meet these objective[s], given current needs," the report said. It concluded that without a firm commitment to population, reproductive health and gender issues, "it is unlikely that the goals and targets of the conference, and the millennium summit will be met" (Deen, Inter Press Service, 4/11).

Related Opinion Piece

Pregnancy is a "death sentence" for as many as one in six women in developing countries, and the "dangerously low and declining" funding in reproductive health worldwide "jeopardizes the achievement" of "critical" U.N. goals, Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) writes in an opinion piece for The Hill. Low-income and minority women in developed countries also are at "disproportionate risk" of maternal health problems, Capps writes, noting that the U.S. ranks 41st worldwide in maternal morality.

Leaders meeting at the World Bank later this month to evaluate priorities and consider which programs to fund to meet MDGs hopefully will "address the challenging, but solvable, problem of maternal mortality," Capps writes. She adds that "Congress can also play an important role in addressing this crisis by passing the U.S. Commitment to Global Child Survival Act," which would increase the U.S. contribution to reduce maternal and infant mortality worldwide. Congress also should provide the necessary resources to CDC to improve data collection and analysis, Capps writes.

World leaders must "heed this clarion call" and "dramatically increase investments" for reproductive health care, Capps writes, concluding, "Let us all do our part to ensure every woman's most basic right -- to live through pregnancy and childbirth so she can nurture her children and contribute to the well-being of her family, community and nation" (Capps, The Hill, 4/15).

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