On International Women's Day: UNFPA representative: Supporting national efforts in achieving population and development goals in Syria
Syria, Culture, 3/8/2005

"Since the beginning of its operations in Syria, in 1971, UNFPA has established a strategic partnership with the Government of Syria in the areas of population and development and Reproductive Health," said UNFPSA head of Damascus office Ms. Lina Mousa in an exclusive statement to ArabicNews.com.

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is the world's largest international source of funding for population and reproductive health programs.

Highlighting the International Women's day which falls March 8, Ms Mousa noted what was stated by Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, UNFPA executive Director to that the theme of 2005 International Women's Day, gender Equality Beyond 2005: Building a More Secure Future, recognizes that greater progress to protect the right of women and ensure their full participation in decision- making is essential for peace, development, and equality. Ms Mousa also noted Obaid's emphasis that a lot remains to be done and that only 15 countries have so far reached the target of 30 percent of women in parliament.

High levels of gender-based violence in conflict zones, the growth in trafficking of women and children, high level of maternal mortality, rising rates of HIV infection among women and girls, and the persistence of harmful traditional practices all point to the need for greater awareness and collective action.

Ms Mousa underlined the focus given by Obaid to linking between the Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women and the Cairo International conference on Population and development wh ere central importance was given to reproductive health and rights, adding that during the two conferences stress was laid on the fact that all individuals have the right to reproductive health; to determine freely and responsibly by the number, timing and spacing of their children and to have the information and means to do so; and to make decisions concerning reproduction free of coercion, discrimination and violence. Also highlighted are the five main principles related to UNFPA mandate: Reproductive health services prevent unintended pregnancies and abortion, HIV infection, maternal, infant and child mortality and save lives. Marking the International women's day, Obaid urged governments and the international community to reaffirm and reinforce their commitment to Beijing Platform for Action as they work to reduce poverty and achieve Millennium Development Goals.

She also urged the need to energize efforts to put gender equality at the top of the international peace and development agenda.

On Syria - UNFPA areas of partnership, Mousa said that over the past years, UNFPA's assistance focused on supporting national Syrian efforts in achieving population and development goals in the country by contributing to improvement of the reproductive health status, including HIV/AIDS prevention, in terms of availability and quality; a sustained balance between population dynamic and socio economic development, including data collection, analysis and research and the enhancement of gender equality and empowerment of women.

Emphasizing conformity with and adherence to the principles and objective of the program of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in the context of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG s), Ms Mousa indicated that all intervention is supported by UNFPA in the said areas in Syria. She indicated that achieving the ICPD goals which are: universal access to reproductive health; universal access to primary education and closing the gender gap; reducing maternal mortality; reducing infant mortality; increasing life expectancy and reducing the HIV infection rate' is critical for the realization of MDG s.

On the current country program (2002- 2006) between Syria and UNFPA, Mousa indicated this program is executed with full coordination between the UNFPA and the Syrian State planning commission, together with ministries concerned.

She explained one of the key areas of cooperation between Syria and UNFPA is the reproductive health program, adding that the strategy adopted to this end focuses mainly on capacity building of the health service system in the provision of reproductive health services and information including commodity security; provision of medical equipment and supplies including contraceptives; conducting research and surveys; and launching appropriate information, education and communication programs. She added that the Syrian ministry of health is the lead agency for the reproductive health program in Syria.

Highlighting major initiatives supported in Syria by UNFPA under the reproductive health program are expanding availability of quality reproductive health services and information in 277 health centers in 25 health districts, including referral system. She hinted services supported include safe motherhood, emergency obstetric care, family planning, screening of sexually transmitted diseases, screening for breast and cervical cancers and counseling services and strengthening the management information system including use of related indicators. She also indicated other initiatives fall under the program including an under way revision of elaboration of the national reproductive health strategy, an underway study on "causes of Maternal mortality" and conducting needs assessment among youths in the 25 health districts; conducting "knowledge, attitude and practice" for men in selected healthy villages; launching awareness creation and advocacy campaigns and production of materials and communicating messages through various media channels; upgrading the sexuality transmitted infections (STI) laboratory of the ministry of health; supporting voluntary counseling testing training for health workers in HIV/AIDS labs in different Syrian governorates; supporting STI s testing techniques training for physicians and conducting a knowledge, attitude and practice survey for female sex workers and cupping workers and raising awareness workshops..

Mousa also indicated another area of Syria- UNFPA cooperation: population and development strategies. She explained that the state planning commission besides its role as the focal point for UNFPA work in Syria, is also the lead agency in the area of population and development strategies. She said that key partners for UNFPA are the central Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Higher education and the State planning commission. She indicated major initiatives supported under this program: development of the draft national population police, ongoing efforts are continued to modify the strategy in the context of MDG s; support capacity building of the technical Secretariat of the National population Committee; provide technical assistance in support of integrating population variables in the national development planning activities; support to 2004 population and housing census; and the Pan Arab project for family health survey (PAPFAM- 2002), conducted by the central Bureau of Statistics with the joint support of the Arab league and concerned UN agencies. Efforts are continued to assist national counterparts in the analysis of the findings of these activities ' study on contents scope and gaps; and support the establishment of the Higher Institute for Population Studies of the ministry of higher education.

In this regard, Mousa said that the Syrian ministry of information and the Syrian commission for family affairs are the key partners for the UNFPA in this area. She added that other partners include the ministries of labor and social affairs, Awqaf ( Islamic Trust), and culture, the Women's Union, Youth Union, the Labor Union, the fund for integrated rural development of Syria (FORDOS) and Mawred.

Mousa also highlighted more major initiatives supported under this program. These include conducting a study on "knowledge and attitudes of media professional and decision makers on population, reproductive health and gender issues, study on "content analysis research of population related content of selected media;" launching advocacy campaigns targeting various audience, including youth and parliamentarians; production of media messages on population, reproductive health, gender issues through TV sports and radio programs and production of "family planning in Islam" booklet, in addition to discussion tables among religious leaders.

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