From Africa Recovery, Vol.12#4 (April 1999), Briefs page

Donors shirk commitment to slow world population growth

Most donors, including the US, Japan, Germany and France, lag far behind in meeting commitments to fund programmes that improve reproductive health and reduce population growth in developing countries, according to Population Action International's new study, Paying their Fair Share?.

Among donor countries, Norway and Denmark have come closest to bearing their share of the cost since the adoption of the Programme of Action by 180 countries at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo in 1994. Covering the 20-year period through 2015, the ICPD Programme of Action aims to increase access to and information on contraception and prenatal care and to boost HIV/AIDS awareness in developing countries.

The cost of basic reproductive health care in developing countries is projected to reach $17 bn per year by 2000 and nearly $22 bn by 2015, according to the ICPD. Each of the 180 countries is to pay its "fair share" based on gross national product (GNP), with donor countries responsible for one-third of the cost. But in 1996, donors contributed a total of $2 bn -- just over 35 per cent of the financial target for the year 2000, the study says.

Meanwhile, the ICPD reports that inadequate reproductive health care is the cause of more than 3 million deaths each year, most of which occur in developing countries.
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