Jul112017

Safe, effective family planning is key to ’empowering people, developing nations’ – UN

United Nations

11 July 2017 – If the demand of women in developing countries who wanted access to safe and effective family planning was met, it would reduce an estimated 100,000 maternal death and avert 67 million unintended pregnancies, the United Nations population agency today said.

&#8220Some 214 million women in developing countries who want to avoid pregnancy are not using safe and effective family planning methods, for reasons ranging from lack of access to information or services to lack of support from their partners or communities,&#8221 the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) said on the occasion of World Population Day, marked annually on 11 July.

This year’s occurrence coincides with the Family Planning Summit, the second meeting of the FP2020-Family Planning 2020-initiative, which aims to expand access to voluntary family planning to 120 million additional women by 2020.

Natalia Kanem, UNFPA Acting Executive Director, noted that better reproductive health care &#8211 including voluntary family planning &#8211 could bolster economies and contribute to sustainable development by empowering women to complete school and join the labour force. There, she would be likely to earn a higher income and increase her and her family’s savings and investment.

In addition, for each additional dollar spent on contraceptive services above the current level, the cost of pregnancy-related care is reduced by $2.30, according to UNFPA figures.

&#8220Investments in family planning help lead to prosperity for all,&#8221 Ms. Kanem said, highlighting this year’s theme for the 2017 Day, ‘Family Planning: Empowering People, Developing Nations.’

She added that safe and effective family planning also contribute to the success of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly the corresponding goals of ending poverty, ending hunger, promoting good health, and aiming for gender equality.

In her message, Ms. Kanem urged all Governments and stakeholders to help the UN agency achieve its goal of meeting unmet demand for family planning by 2030.

On behalf of UNFPA, she also called on the 179 member countries that endorsed the Programme of Action of the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) to fulfill their commitments to achieve universal access to sexual and reproductive health, including voluntary family planning.

&#8220Not only is this a matter of protecting health and rights, but it is also a matter of investing in economic development as well as humanity’s prosperity and progress,&#8221 said Ms. Kanem.

Jul112017

Arctic sea ice cover to be second-lowest recorded

East Asia

Arctic sea ice cover is set to reach to the second-lowest extent since satellite observations began in 1979, according to scientists from Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

“Based on an Arctic sea prediction system developed by our research team, the ice cover is expected to shrink to 4.1 million square kilometers in September, 2017,” said Liu Jiping from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of CAS.

In general, the Arctic sea ice reaches its minimum extent in September each year, and global climate change has brought significant changes to the sea ice cover, with nearly 50 percent of losses since 1979, according to Liu.

The Arctic sea ice cover shrank to 3.41 million square kilometers in September, 2012, the lowest summer minimum in history, according to the World Meteorological Organization.

Scientists from the CAS said that the shrinking will make it possible for vessels to sail along the Arctic’s Northeast Passage, a path across the top of Siberia, Russia.

Liu said that the loss of the Arctic sea ice in autumn and winter will affect atmospheric circulation, and that the north part of China may suffer from worse air quality.

“The prediction of the growing and melting seasons of the Arctic sea ice will also be helpful in analyzing the extreme weather events in winter,” said Liu.

Jul112017

The Government’s announcement of an inquiry into contaminated blood is long overdue – Sharon Hodgson

Labour

Sharon
Hodgson, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Public Health, commenting on the news there is to be an inquiry into how thousands of people
were infected with contaminated blood transfusions, said:

“The
Government’s announcement of an inquiry into contaminated blood is long
overdue. Labour will be working with campaigners to scrutinise the announcement
and make sure this inquiry finally delivers justice for the families of the
victims of this appalling tragedy.

“The
inquiry should deliver full disclosure of documents relating to the disaster,
through a process managed by the victims and should compel parties involved in
the scandal to participate fully. It must investigate not just the events
leading up to individuals’ infection, but the aftermath as well.

“There
are a number of recent allegations about the conduct of public officials and
the treatment of the victims which need to be fully and transparently
addressed. The victims and their families have suffered for too long and the
Government should provide every possible support to them in their quest for
truth.”

Jul112017

News story: Family Planning Summit 2017

HM Government

On Tuesday 11 July 2017, the UK hosted a major international summit on family planning, in partnership with UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Summit brought together leaders from around the world to work together to remove barriers to family planning services so that voluntary, modern contraception can be offered to many more millions of women in the world’s poorest countries across Africa and Asia.

International Development Secretary Priti Patel gave a key note speech, alongside Natalia Kanem, acting head of UNFPA, and Melinda Gates.

Ms Patel set out that the UK Government would boost and extend its annual support for family planning around the world until 2022.

In addition, the UK ‎will be focusing its efforts on eliminating the stigma, cost and access issues associated with family planning, by supporting innovative technology, helping fix issues in supply chains so contraceptives make it onto the shelves and reach more women in emergency settings.

The UK will support millions more women with family planning to overcome the following issues:

  • There is no choice of contraceptives – the UK is supportive the roll out and scaling of the first new self-injectable contraceptive – Sayana Press – in a decade‎. This new self-injectable is already transforming the lives of women in four pilot countries – Uganda, Senegal, Burkino Faso and Niger. Now with the UK’s support, Sayana Press will be available for more women in the world’s countries.
  • Women cannot afford the contraceptives they want‎ – the UK, through the World Bank, will encourage governments in developing countries to fund their own family planning systems which will, for example, allow women in Nigeria to access family planning free of charge for the first time.
  • Women living in a emergency setting – the UK will be demanding more from its humanitarian partners and supporting them to improve access to family planning services for refugees‎.
  • Contraceptives don’t make it onto the shelves‎ – the UK will support the new Visibility & Analytics Networks – a data monitoring system formed by a coalition of ‎partners – to map what contraceptives are needed and where. This will bolster the efforts of the UNFPA to get contraceptives where they are needed, when they are needed.
  • Social taboos – the UK will support the new ‘SRHR Connect’ programme which will address barriers facing women who want family planning, including addressing the stigma that stops women accessing family planning services.

The international development secretary called on governments, civil society and businesses to build on the progress from the summit, to do more to increase the availability and drive down prices of family planning services in developing countries.

Jul112017

‘Coast chiefs’ to fight pollution, illegal fishing

East Asia

A coastal Chinese province is to appoint coast chiefs to fight pollution and illegal fishing.

Zhejiang provincial government said Tuesday that the arrangement will take effect on August 7 and by the end of this year all coasts in Zhejiang should have their chiefs.

Coast chiefs will be responsible for supervising waste discharged into the sea, illegal fishing gear, unlicensed fishing boats, illegal use of coasts, illegal ship building, repairing and recycling, the government said in a circular.

Zhejiang has a coastline of more than 6,600 kilometers, the longest of any Chinese province.

The coast chief practice is regarded as an extension of river chiefs, which are being rolled out across the country after a successful trial in Jiangsu Province.

The responsibilities of river chiefs include water resource protection, pollution prevention and control, and ecological restoration. Their performance is assessed and they will be held accountable for environmental damage in the bodies of water they oversee.

Zhejiang tested the practice in 2008 and expanded it across the whole province in 2013 and there are now 61,000 river chiefs there.