UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)
|
| UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) |
|
********************************************************************
This newsletter is being made available by the Population Information
Network (POPIN) of the United Nations Population Division (DESIPA)
and Population Communication International. For further information
please contact Patrice_Newman@together.org
*********************************************************************
INTERNATIONAL DATELINE
A Population and Development News and Information Service
NOVEMBER WORLD POPULATION UPDATE:
5,814,764,000 (Population
Reference Bureau)
NOVEMBER 1996
EXTINCTION THREATENS 1,096 MAMMAL AND 1,108 BIRD SPECIES ON 1996
RED LIST. According to recent estimates, nearly a quarter of all
known mammal species around the world are at risk of becoming
extinct. And the same threat applies to: over ten percent of all
bird species, a fifth of all reptiles, a quarter of all amphibians,
and over a third of all fish--mostly freshwater species.
Altogether, some 5200 threatened species are listed on the 1996 Red
List, compiled by the World Conservation Union. Habitat loss, fed
by human population growth and economic development, takes most of
the blame for the declining numbers of animals worldwide. Other
factors named in the Red List's burgeoning number of threatened
species include: the exploitation of certain animals; pollution and
climate change, and the introduction of non-native species into
habitats. Four countries--Indonesia, China, India and Brazil--share
the highest rates of both bird and mammal species at risk of going
extinct. The Red List report notes that while China, India and
Indonesia host a great number of species relative to other parts of
the world, the three countries also account for 43 percent of the
world's human population, which puts great pressure on critical
habitats. Dr. William Conway, of the New York-based Wildlife
Conservation Society says: "Few animals that lie in the path of human
development and have limited ranges can be expected to survive
without special efforts to protect them."
THE RED LIST REPORT SAYS THAT OF THE 26 ORDERS OF MAMMALS, 24
INCLUDE THREATENED SPECIES, including nearly half the world's monkeys
and apes; more than half of 18 species of hoofed mammals--among them
rhinoceroses, zebras, and wild horses; more than a third of shrews
and moles; a third of pigs, antelope and cattle species; one quarter
of all bats, wild dogs, bears and cats, and almost a fifth of all
rodents. The little-known California harbor porpoise has been
reduced to just 100 individuals because of pollution, water diversion
and entanglements in fishing nets. The pygmy hog--the world's
smallest pig species--survives in only two wildlife sanctuaries in
India. And only 200 Tonkin snub-nosed monkeys survive in isolated
forest fragments in northern Vietnam. Of the 27 orders of birds
around the world, 23 contain threatened species, numbering over 1100
bird species at risk altogether. An estimated fifth of all reptiles
are threatened, including 44 percent of the 23 species of
"crocodilians," which includes crocodiles, alligators and caimans.
But crocodilians are one of the few orders whose situation has been
improved by conservation: In 1971, 100 percent of the large reptiles
were endangered. Today, seven species are abundant enough to allow
sustainable use for skin trade, and five species have stable or
increasing population numbers. Russel Mittermeier, president of
Conservation International in Washington, calls the Red List
"indisputable proof that warnings about global biological diversity
loss haven't been exaggerated," adding: "If anything, we've been too
optimistic."
FISH AND INVERTEBRATE POPULATION NUMBERS ALSO HAVE ALARMING
IMPLICATIONS. According to the Red List report, more than 100
species of marine fish are threatened with extinction, including
sharks, tuna, coral reef fish and seahorses. All species of sturgeon
and paddlefish are at risk. In light of these findings, scientists
are pessimistic about the status of the 14,000 marine species not yet
assessed. In addition, about 77 of 250 known European freshwater
fish are threatened, and 14 species are critically endangered,
reflecting excessive harvesting, water pollution and overly-modified
water courses in Europe. The report notes that most animal species
are invertebrates, and although the Red List carries 1,891 species
of these (mostly crustaceans, insects and mollusks), scientists
emphasize that very few invertebrate species have been assessed
relative to their total numbers. More mollusks are listed as
threatened than any other invertebrate group: Out of 70,000
documented mollusk species, 2,049 were assessed, and 920 of these
were identified as threatened.
THE RED LIST STARTED IN 1960 AS A CARD FILE ON 34 RARE ANIMALS.
The 1996 study, conducted by over 500 scientists worldwide,
identifies 5,205 threatened species, including nearly half of the
world's primates. The list also includes 253 reptile, 124 amphibian
and 734 fish species, but it emphasizes that thousands of species in
those groups have not yet been assessed. Various methods were used
to assess levels of endangerment, including rate of population
decline over a ten-year period. Using this criterion, critically
endangered species are defined as those experiencing an 80 percent
decline; endangered, 50 percent; and vulnerable, 20 percent. The
publication of the 1996 Red List coincided with the first World
Conservation Congress in Montreal, Canada, October 13-23, 1996.
For more information, contact: Ricardo Bayon, Special Assistant
to the Director General, IUCN, The World Conservation Union, Rue
Monuverny 25, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland. Tel: (4122) 999-0288; fax:
(4122) 999-0029; or Lisa Bowen at the Species Survival Commission in
Washington, DC: (202) 973-2204.
(Press Release, October 1996, World Conservation Union; New York
Times, 8 October 1996)
* * * * *
IN BRIEF . . .
. . . SOUTH AFRICA has the worst tuberculosis problem in the world,
with estimates of the disease numbering 311 cases per 100,000
population, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and a
team of international experts. WHO says that no other country's
estimates exceed 250 cases per 100,000 people. A combination of
factors are blamed, including the isolating effects of decades of
apartheid; disparities in health care; the rising incidence of
HIV/AIDS; unsupervised medication regimes; working conditions in
mines--where many South Africans work, and treatment avoidance due
to shame or fear of losing employment. Dr. Olive Shisana, director
general of South Africa's Department of Health, said that "directly
observed treatment," in which patients are forced to take their
medication under the eyes of a nurse every day for up to six months,
will be adopted throughout the country. (New York Times, 26 June
1996, New York/Pretoria)
. . . DEBT RELIEF for up to 41 of the world's poorest countries is
the focus of a new initiative from World Bank President James
Wolfensohn. The initiative--projected to cost between US$5.6 and
$7.7 billion over the next decade--was endorsed at the recent annual
meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Wolfensohn has recommended that the World bank contribute up to US$2
billion, though sources for the rest of the funds are unclear. Moves
to help the first of the poor countries--with Uganda at the top of
the list--should begin by the end of the year.
(The Economist, 5 October, London/Washington)
. . . FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION is now officially banned in both
Egypt and the United States. Egyptian Health Minister Ismail Sallam
announced the decision in July, approximately one year after the
government succumbed to fundamentalist pressure and ruled that,
instead of being banned outright, the mutilation should be performed
in designated hospitals. The United States imposed a federal ban on
the practice on September 30, directing Federal authorities to inform
new immigrants from countries where it is commonly practiced that
parents who arrange the procedure for their daughters and anyone who
performs the ritual face up to five years in prison. The new law
also requires U.S. representatives to the World Bank and other
international financial institutions to oppose loans to governments
that have not carried out educational programs to prevent the
traditional practice. (IPPF Open File, September 1996, International
Planned Parenthood Association, London; New York Times, 12 October
1996).
. . . SOUTH KOREA has the highest boy-to-girl ratio in the world,
with only 100 girls born in 1994 to every 115.4 boys. Fertility
rates have declined from over five to under two children per woman
since 1950, but the pressure to produce a male heir is still high.
According to the Planned Parenthood Federation of Korea, the 1994
boy-to-girl ratio translates into 30,000 aborted female fetuses that
year. Census projections indicate that by 2010, only four South
Korean women will reach marrying age for every five men in that
country. (IPPF Open File, September 1996, International Planned
Parenthood Association, London)
. . . TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS account for 51 of the world's 100
largest economies, according to a new report from the Institute for
Policy Studies. The study points out for example that Wal-Mart--the
world's 12th-largest corporation--racks up sales revenues larger than
the gross domestic product of 161 countries, including Israel, Poland
and Greece. The combined sales of the top 200 corporations come to
US$7.1 trillion, nearly twice the $3.9 trillion in economic activity
generated by the poorest 80 percent of the world's population, some
4.5 billion people. The report concludes that these corporations
"are creating a global economic apartheid, not a global village."
(In These Times, 26 October 1996, Chicago, Illinois, USA)
* * * * *
IF TODAY'S BIRTH RATES REMAIN UNCHANGED, THE WORLD WOULD SEE
MULTIBILLION POPULATION LEVELS--100 billion by the end of next
century and 700 billion by the mid-22nd century--"that would
certainly lead to food shortages, epidemics and civil strife." That
scenario--posited to drive home the mathematical realities of certain
statistics--comes from demographer Carl Haub, co-author with Machiko
Yanagishita of the Washington-based Population Reference Bureau's
1996 World Population Data Sheet. Haub notes that the acceptance of
family planning by couples around the world has been key in lowering
postwar population growth rates, but says that "birth rates in
developing countries remain at twice the level needed to stabilize
world population size at some point in the future." If current birth
rates do not come down, PRB says, "we will soon be adding several
billions to world population every 10 years." And they add that
while this may seem like an unimaginable scenario, "it would be a
mathematical certainty."
GROWING AT ITS CURRENT PACE, WORLD POPULATION WILL REACH 6
BILLION IN 1999, just twelve years after passing the five billion
mark, according to the PRB authors. They note that if couples in
developing countries continue to average well over two children each,
"only rising death rates from factors such as famines would deter an
unsustainable population of several hundreds of billions." Assuming
a downturn from its average of six children per couple, PRB says that
Africa's ultimate population size over the next 50 years will rise
to between 1.2 billion and almost 8 billion--a number that would
undermine the continent's development opportunities and its
governments' ability to deal with the situation. PRB says that China
and India are two huge population question marks in the world's
demographic future. The two most populous nations have both lowered
fertility rates over the last few decades, but PRB notes that China's
rate of 1.8 children per woman is the result of the controversial
government-mandated family planning program. India has lowered its
rate to 3.4 children in the past 30 years; however, PRB says, further
decline to its goal of two children per family remains elusive.
THE 1996 WORLD POPULATION DATA SHEET FINDINGS ALSO INCLUDE THE
FOLLOWING:
* AIDS will have a far greater effect on population size in
Africa than previously thought. And though the impact on continent-
wide population growth will be modest, PRB says, AIDS may have a
devastating impact on certain countries;
* With Europe's fertility rate down to only 1.5 children per
woman, population growth in the industrialized countries has
effectively ended for the foreseeable future. PRB says that this
will lead to significant economic challenges as populations age.
For information on obtaining copies of the 1996 World Population
Data Sheet, contact: Population Reference Bureau, 1875 Connecticut
Ave., NW, Suite 520, Washington, DC 20009-5728, USA. [Note to
journalists: if you return the survey enclosed with your July/August
Dateline, PCI will send you a complimentary copy of the 1996 Data
Sheet. If you cannot find your survey, simply jot down your
affiliation and a few comments on whether, how and how often you use
Dateline and why, and mail it to us at PCI. Thanks in advance.]
(News Release, 3 July 1996, Population Reference Bureau Inc.,
Washington)
* * * * *
A FORMER BRAZILIAN GUERRILLA FIGHTER HAS TURNED HIS MILITANCY
TOWARD A DEVELOPMENT MODEL aimed at defending the threatened Amazon
rainforest. He is Joao Alberto Capiberibe, governor of Amapa, one
of Brazil's poorest and most remote states, situated at the left bank
of the Amazon's mouth. Capiberibe, a 48-year-old politician who once
battled to unseat Brazil's military rulers, has won praise from
environmentalists for his peaceful war against poverty and its
devastating effect on Amapas's rich forest resources. Though small
by Amazonian standards, the state--with a population of only 600,000-
-spans an area twice the size of Ireland. Capiberibe's strategy is
to attract people away from the interior forest land by promoting
job-creating tourism and a fishing industry along the Amazon and
Atlantic coasts. His government is also providing assistance to
interior communities that extract from the forest such lucrative and
renewable natural crops as rubber and nuts. Shortly after
Capiberibe's inauguration in 1995, his administration began buying
dehydrated Brazil nuts from one indigenous reserve to bolster
nutrition among children by fortifying meals distributed free to
schools. Members of the rural workers' union say they benefitted as
well, because the government program pushed up the price of nuts in
the wholesale market. About his new programs, Capiberibe says: "I
started from a very simple diagnosis. Our natural resources are
disappearing and unless we do something, we will be left in a
situation of eternal poverty."
IN THE TRADITIONALLY CONSERVATIVE STATE, CAPIBERIBE MUST CONTEND
WITH POWERFUL POLITICAL OPPOSITION as well as entrenched cultural
patterns. In one case, inhabitants balked when he tried to persuade
them to move to higher ground from a heavily polluted riverbank
settlement. As a resident explained, they like living by the river--
however unsanitary the site. More threatening to the governor's
projects are local and national political forces. Before Amapa
became a state in 1991, the territory was ruled directly from
Brasilia, the national capital--usually in an authoritarian manner.
And the local population has not yet been able to shake off the habit
of living under powerful land owners. Even the grass-roots approach
to attacking poverty and saving the environment has drawn fire. As
a Capiberibe government member explained: "We're not building lots
of grand projects, and that can be used by the opposition against
us."
(Financial Times, 28 November 1995, London)
* * * * *
WILL CHINA--AS ONE DRAMATIC NEWS HEADLINE QUERIES--'EAT UP THE
WORLD' within the next three decades? American resources specialist
Lester Brown contends that it will. Experts both in and out of China
tend to brush off the prediction as unnecessarily alarmist. Brown,
president of the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute, argues that
the Chinese's newly-developed taste for untraditionally large
helpings of pork, chicken, beer and other grain-based dietary items--
as opposed to the traditional rice-based diet--will require more
wheat and corn to feed livestock than China can possibly produce.
As recently as the 1959-62 period, some 20 million Chinese died in
one of the world's worst recorded famines. But today's booming
economy has raised the standard of Chinese living and dining. Brown
points out that to meet the growing demand, China already has turned
from a grain exporter to the world's second-largest grain importer.
Eventually, he argues, Beijing will import so much grain that the
total international supply would be exhausted. But Song Guoqing of
the Chinese Center for Economic Research calls the forecast "somewhat
exaggerated." He contends that contrary to Brown's contention,
within the next few years agricultural production will "increase
quickly." Nicos Alexandratos of the United Nations' Food and
Agriculture Organization, shares Song's view. He says Brown bases
his calculations on a China diet consumption equal to Europe's--a
state which, he adds, "will still take many years to come about."
(World Press Review, March 1996; from NRC Handelsblad,
Rotterdam)
* * * * *
QUALITY OF LIFE EMERGES AS THE PIVOTAL RECOMMENDATION of a study
commission comprising seven governments, three international
agencies, and five major private foundations. The group's most
recent conference report, described as the outline of a "radical
agenda," deals with the economic, human and environmental crises
facing the world. In one key finding, the conferees agreed that
development assistance is inadequate for the people and countries
that need it most, calculating that the poorest countries with an
average real annual income of US$2,000 per person received only $8.23
per capita in aid in 1991. By contrast, those with a yearly per
capita income between US$4,000 and $5,000 received aid assistance
worth nearly $100, or 12 times the share of the poorest. In its
report, Caring for the Future, the Independent Commission on
Population and the Quality of Life questions whether the market
economy alone is the panacea to the world's ills. In fact, it
asserts that in most countries, the emphasis on the free market,
economic stability and growth in material consumption has taken
precedence over the quality of life. While conceding a role to the
free market, the report contends: "The greatest challenges to modern
government arise from problems that markets either help to create or
cannot deal with," notably environmental damage, social breakdown,
unemployment and crime.
THE COMMISSION CALLS FOR 'A NEW SOCIAL CONTRACT' for
governments. Most urgently, it advocates a new balance between
market, society and environment; between efficiency and equity, and
between wealth and welfare. On specific major points, the contract
advocates:
* Strong participation and democracy at all levels of
government. It says people should have the right to influence or
decide policy not only through representatives but directly.
* A concept of security that covers not only military but human
security. Disapprovingly, the report points out that among 94
countries surveyed, at least 52 spent more in 1990 on the military
than on health.
* National accounting systems that include environmental costs
and the depreciation of natural capital.
The contract emphasizes the needs and rights of the family,
including the rights to maternal nutrition, pre-natal and post-natal
care, access to family planning, maternal leave and gender equality.
Summing up, it says: "Development assistance should concentrate
increasingly on sustainable improvement in the quality of life."
(Caring for the Future, 26 June 1996, The Independent Commission
on Population and Quality of Life, Oxford University Press)
* * * * *
IN-DEPTH REPORTS ON FAMILY PLANNING AND CONTRACEPTIVE PRACTICES
IN A DOZEN COUNTRIES ARE CONTAINED in a series of three working
papers published by the New York-based Population Council. The
conclusions--some of them unorthodox and challenging of mainstream
views--cover the demographic spectrum of such diverse cultures and
political orientations as those in China, the Philippines, Thailand
and Bangladesh. For example, the authors of the Philippines study
express doubt that the principal cause of women's unmet needs are
necessarily a lack of family planning services and information.
Planning services, they argue, appear to carry little weight in the
Philippines. Rather, they contend: "The most important factors are
the strength of women's reproductive preferences, the fertility
preferences of the husband and the perceived detrimental health side
effects of contracepting." In the working paper titled
"Contraception and Religious Practices in Bangladesh," the authors
assert that the effect of Qur'anic teachings is subject to varying
interpretations on the issue, with the Holy Book's stand on family
planning used to bolster both pro and con arguments. The study says
that varying views stem in part from the Qur'an's silence on the
contraception issue.
THE MOST DIRECT CHALLENGE TO CONVENTIONAL FAMILY PLANNING
RESEARCH IS CONTAINED in the 1996 Working Paper No. 85, titled
"Governance of Fertility Transition: Regularity and Duress." Here,
the study focuses on the intrusive government policies that have
resulted in dramatic population declines in China and Indonesia.
Author Geoffrey McNicoll contends that for China, foreign
demographers' data show "a blanket avoidance of the role of politics
in the spectacular drop in birth rate." He explains that researchers
are intimidated by the fear that Beijing will discourage their
further visits. Therefore, McNicoll says, the politics of
international population activities are largely--as at the Cairo
population conference--about declarations rather than about their
implementation. Nevertheless, he concedes, there have been instances
where direct government action has had a major effect on fertility.
The classic case is China, with its one-child policy. But the study
also refers to India's 1975-77 Emergency period under Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi, when discipline was imposed and civil liberties
curtailed to promote lower population growth. The targeted
population consisted of families with three or more children. At the
Emergency's peak, government and party pressures resulted in 8
million sterilizations; contrasting with some 1.7 million in the
preceding 10 years. The study also found varying degrees of
government persuasion and intrusion sometimes bordering on coercion
in Indonesia and, to a lesser extent, in Thailand. In fact, in
Thailand's case, the study concluded that the dramatic scale of
decline "offered plenty of kudos to be claimed" in light of its
generally benevolent approach to family planning.
(Working Papers, Numbers 83, 84 and 85, 1996, The Population
Council Research Division, One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York,
NY 10017, USA)
* * * * *
DESPITE A DECLINE IN FERTILITY RATES, INDIA'S POPULATION
CONTINUES TO GROW AT AN ALARMING RATE, according to a recent report
published by the Population Reference Bureau (PRB). For the past
three decades, India's population has been growing at 2 percent
annually. But in the early 1990s, the growth rate dropped below that
figure. Nevertheless, by 1995, the population stood at 931 million
and was continuing to grow. In a search for clues to India's
Population in Transition--the title of the new report--two Indian
demographers examined the factors involved in the decline. In the
demographic context, the term "transition" as used throughout the
report refers to the process during which mortality and fertility
rates fall from high to low levels. Among other things, the
researchers considered differences between states, religions and
ethnic groups as well as between urban and country living and the
status of women in the society. But one factor is paramount among
their findings. As the published report put it: "Indians must face
the fact that their population will exceed 1 billion by the end of
the century and that their country is likely to surpass China, to
become the world's most populous country by the middle of the next
century."
THE REPORT ON INDIA'S DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION IS A 50-PAGE
COMPENDIUM of text bolstered by tables, graphs and charts and
illustrated by maps and photographs. Topics range from the history
of India's diversity, age composition and family planning programs
to the effect of modernization on fertility decline. It ends with
half a dozen pages of reference sources, suggested reading and
questions for discussion. The authors of the report are Leela
Visaria, a professor at the Gujarat Institute of Development Research
in Ahmedabad, India, and Pravin Visaria, the institute's director.
In a discussion of social issues, the authors point out that while
the easing of controls and regulations with emphasis on economic
growth are welcomed by India's middle class, a quarter of all Indians
still live below the official poverty level. At the same time,
efforts to raise living standards for the masses are frustrated by
the rapid population rise. As has happened in the newly-
industrialized countries of East and Southeast Asia, India's
fertility decline is attributed in large part to "modernization."
The term includes urbanization, industrialization and the rise in the
status of women. Yet even if, under the influence of modernization,
all young Indians decide to have only two or fewer children, the
population would continue to grow for the next 60 to 70 years. In
absolute terms, the United Nations projects that with a replacement
level of 2.1 children per woman, India's population will exceed 1.6
billion by the year 2045--less than 50 years from now.
A WALLCHART ENTITLED "INDIA: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE" was
published by PRB in May 1996, prepared in collaboration with the U.S.
Agency for International Development/Delhi and the International
Institute for Population Sciences in Mumbai (Bombay). The chart
highlights India's dramatic decrease in fertility rates and
significant progress in improving the health of children. Based on
the results of the 1992-93 National Family Health Survey, the chart
marks the fall in average fertility from more than 6.0 children in
1951 to 3.4 children today, as well as health indicators such as
infant mortality rates, vaccination coverage and child
undernutrition.
Contact PRB for ordering information: Population Reference
Bureau, 1875 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 520, Washington, DC 20009-
5728, USA.
(Population Bulletin, October 1995, Population Reference Bureau,
Washington)
* * * * *
NGO SUPPLEMENT NOVEMBER 1996
For and About NGOs and their Work
THE RESULTS OF A RECENT STUDY ON PROMOTING VASECTOMY IN MEXICO,
BRAZIL AND COLOMBIA suggests that the procedure's low acceptance rate
may have more to do with an inadequate supply of services than an
especially low demand. Throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s in
both Mexico and Colombia, Ricardo Vernon, author of the recent study,
notes that the number of vasectomies rose as both trained physicians
and clinics became more accessible to men. Friends, relatives and,
especially, wives were extremely influential in men's decision to
have a vasectomy. Vernon asserts that vasectomy promotion efforts
should therefore involve wives, and further suggests that vasectomy
could be presented to women as an alternative to female
sterilization.
THE LATIN AMERICAN MEN WHO CHOSE VASECTOMY IN THE STUDY WERE
GENERALLY URBAN, AGED 28-40, MARRIED and had completed at least some
secondary schooling. Most were practicing contraception at the time
of their decision to have a vasectomy and, Vernon says, appear to
feel comfortable talking with their wives about contraception. He
also suggests that the men generally show "a high sense of family
responsibility and concern for their wives' health and well-being."
Vernon says that vasectomy programs should therefore target both
promotion strategies and service delivery to meet the needs of this
specific population.
THE VASECTOMY STUDY ALSO SUGGESTS THAT MEN WHO CHOOSE THE METHOD
COULD BE ITS MOST EFFECTIVE PROMOTERS. Only 1 percent of the
Colombian men studied and 2 percent of acceptors from one Mexico City
clinic regretted electing the procedure, while 82-96 percent said
they would recommend vasectomy to other men. Vernon says that
mechanisms for maintaining contacts with these acceptor-promoters and
for handling their referrals need to be developed. He also notes
that health care personnel--among the most consulted sources when men
evaluate whether to undergo a vasectomy--need to be well-trained in
counselling techniques, and more involved in promotion and referral.
Vernon says that providing minimal training to all clinic staff
appears to be more effective than just training providers. Mass
media strategies are also effective, Vernon says, particularly in
large cities where there are high quality clinics.
(International Family Planning Perspectives, March 1996, The
Alan Guttmacher Institute, New York)
* * * * *
DESPITE FEARS OF CANCELLATION DUE TO GOVERNMENT PRESSURE, MORE
THAN 350 REPRESENTATIVES of non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
participated in the first Asia-Europe NGO conference under the theme,
"Beyond Geo-Politics and Geo-Economics: Towards a New Relationship
between Asia and Europe." The NGO meeting paralleled the Asia-
European Ministers Meeting, the first such gathering of government
leaders from 25 nations in Asia and Europe, held March 1-2 in Bangkok
Thailand. Besides calling on Asian and European governments to cease
and withdraw from a number of military situations, the NGOs
criticized the governments for ignoring the human costs and
dimensions of economic growth. Citing examples from both regions,
presenters listed a number of converging social problems related to
economic expansion, including: widening income disparities;
environmental degradation; the exploitation of workers--especially
women, children, and migrants; discrimination against women, and the
marginalization of small-scale agricultural production. NGO
representatives also noted that international trade agreements
threaten both community rights and traditional systems of land
management.
(DAGA Info, March 1996, Documentation for Action Groups in Asia,
Hong Kong)
* * * * *
A REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH MANUAL FOR NGOs WORKING WITH REFUGEES has
been published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), in cooperation with a range of agencies and NGOs. Entitled
"Reproductive Health in Refugee Situations," the manual describes the
elements of a comprehensive reproductive health program for refugees,
stressing the importance of a "minimum initial services package" of
activities and materials considered to be the minimum necessary to
reduce death and disability from poor reproductive health--especially
in the chaos of an emergency or while refugees are still on the move.
Included in this minimum package are basic mid-wifery kits, delivery
kits for self-use, emergency post-coital contraception, and--
hopefully--information about a referral system available for cases
of obstetric complications. For refugees settled in camps or other
more stable situations, the UNHCR minimum program includes the
provision of antenatal, delivery, and post-partum care.
BESIDES BASIC REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH INFORMATION, THE UNHCR MANUAL
OUTLINES WAYS OF DEALING WITH SEXUAL AND GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE,
sexually transmitted diseases, family planning, the reproductive
health needs of adolescents and other health concerns such as unsafe
abortion and female genital mutilation. UNHCR notes that pregnancy
is a risky venture even in normal conditions and is far worse in
times of war and catastrophe. Written for the field staff of NGOs
and other agencies, the UNHCR manual gives guidance on implementing
what they define as essential reproductive health services--including
both preventive and educational measures--among refugee populations
and also outlines information on the reproductive health rights of
refugees.
Copies of "Reproductive Health in Refugee Situations" can be
obtained from the Programme and Technical Support Section, UNHCR
Headquarters, Casa Postale 2500, CH-1211 Geneva 2 Depot 2,
Switzerland. Fax: 41-22-739-7371.
(Safe Motherhood, Issue 20, 1996 (1), World Health Organization,
Geneva)
* * * * *