COOK ISLANDS

Dr. Salesi Katoanga, Reproductive Health/Family Planning Adviser, and Mr. Allan Kondo, Population Education Adviser, visited the Cook Islands from 31 January to 10 February 1996, on a joint mission to carry out in-depth reviews of Cook Islands' reproductive health/ family planning and sexual health (RH/FP-SH) and the population advocacy, information, education, and communication (PAIEC) programme sectors.

In addition to completing a comprehensive sectoral review of the reproductive health situation, the Adviser on Reproductive Health/Family Planning also assisted project coordinators of CKI/92/P01 and CKI/93/P01 in revising workplans for 1996, compiling project progress reports, and making a presentation of RH/FP/SH in the Family Management and Development Workshop organized by the Cook Islands Family Welfare Association, an IPPF affiliate. The Population Education Adviser also gave a talk on family values at this workshop and was also interviewed by the Cook Islands Television news.

The Population Education Adviser in his sectoral review noted that there is clearly a need for PAIEC strategies to address the issues of migration, RH/FP, gender, youth (especially teen pregnancy), environmental degradation, and advocacy for a population policy to set clearer directions.

On 10-20 April, Population Statistics Adviser, Mr. Laurie Lewis, visited Rarotonga to review the population and development strategies sector and to provide technical assistance to the Statistics Office in the preparations for the 1996 Population and Housing Census. At least two concerns about population growth were voiced by people met during the mission. First, no doubt as a direct onsequence of the financial crisis, the provision of reproductive health services, especially in the outer islands, is becoming more difficult. A second concern relates to the pressures on land, a scarce and treasured resource throughout the Pacific. There is a growing perception that the increasing number of Cook Islanders, regardless of where they reside, puts pressure on land resources.