By Hassan Zaggi
The Executive Director, United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA), Dr. Natalia Kanem, has advised countries around the world to expand access to sexual and reproductive health with rights and choices as the path to a more equal, prosperous and sustainable future.
In a statement to mark the 2023 World Health Day, she called on countries to uphold the right of all people to reach the highest possible standard of health.
While advocating for more investment in health systems across the world, the UNFPA Executive Director disclosed that around the world, UNFPA is supporting health systems to provide quality sexual and reproductive health services that reach every person and accommodate diverse population groups, including people with disabilities.
She insisted that: “Investing in sexual and reproductive health is an essential investment in sustainable development and in delivering a world where every woman, girl and young person can live up to their full potential.
“Such investments not only save and improve lives, they generate economic gains too.
“By UNFPA’s calculation, investing a single dollar in ending preventable maternal deaths and the unmet need for family planning by 2030 can yield economic benefits of up to $8.40 by 2050.”
The statement regretted that every two minutes, a woman dies giving birth.
“As the clock counts down another year, 287,000 more women will meet the same tragic fate.
“Most of these deaths are preventable. They are not inevitable. They happen because health-care systems routinely fail women and girls.
“Women die giving birth because, for too many, health services are unavailable, inaccessible, unaffordable or offer poor quality care.
“Women seeking contraception face similar barriers. An estimated 257 million women who want to avoid pregnancy are not using safe and modern methods to do so,” the statement noted.
The UNFPA Chief revealed that “for decades, health care systems around the world have made progress in improving the reach and quality of sexual and reproductive health care.
“UNFPA has supported that effort. The contraceptives UNFPA procured in 2021 alone helped to prevent 39,000 maternal deaths – contributing to a long and steady decline in the global number of women dying in childbirth.
“Today, alarmingly, we see that global progress has stalled. In some places, maternal death rates are even increasing.
“One reason may be that, particularly amid the COVID-19 pandemic, decisions were made to deprioritize and cut funds for essential, life-saving sexual and reproductive health services.
“Gender discrimination often drives such decisions, treating the health and well-being of women and girls as less important than other goals.
While noting that most countries around the world have committed to achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and universal access to sexual and reproductive health, she, however, lamented that: “Even so, in most countries, UHC benefits packages exclude many essential sexual and reproductive health interventions, including measures related to reproductive cancers and gender-based violence prevention and response.”
