EUROPEAN UNION: Foreign RH Aid Sparks Debate
Euractiv.com on 4 February reported that according to health advocates, conservatives who oppose using EU development aid to finance family planning have succeeding in reducing support for reproductive health services in poorer nations. The EU’s role in supporting reproductive health and birth control and financing the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) escalated a decade ago when George W. Bush set out to revamp American aid priorities, shifting money away from ideologically divisive reproductive and women’s health programmes to the more popular fight against malaria and AIDS. Read in English: Euractiv.com
GLOBAL: XVII INTERNATIONAL AIDS CONFERENCE HELD IN VIENNA
IRIN reported on 23 July on the struggle to effectively market female condoms, noting that there are numerous brands and types, and that “the FC2 condom which has WHO approval and has been widely distributed by UNFPA” is the only WHO-approved female condom. Read: IRIN
LATIN AMERICA: IPS reported on 22 July that HIV/AIDS prevention efforts in Latin America are insufficient. The regional director of UNFPA, Marcela Suazo highlighted the cases of Colombia, where resources have been designated for education and health services, and Cuba, which she described as an "important experience that demonstrates the ties between education and health policies." Read: IPS and in Spanish: IPS
MALAWI: The Sunday Times reported on 25 July that UNFPA, through its “Condomize” campaign distributed 1 million condoms during the recent AIDS conference. “We cannot wait for a vaccine, a microbicide, a new technology, we have something today and we just can’t neglect it,” said UNFPA HIV/AIDS Technical Advisor Bidia Deperthes.