Zimbabwe is set to host a high-level international consultative conference which will set the tone on the world’s preparedness to respond to issues around sexual reproductive health and rights and population development ahead of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD30) to be held next year.
The 20th International Inter-Ministerial Conference on South-South and Triangular Cooperation in Population and Development, which will be held in Victoria Falls next week, will create and provide opportunities for cooperation in the fields of population and development.
Addressing the media in Harare yesterday, Minister of Health and Child Care Dr Douglas Mombeshora said the holding of this event in Zimbabwe would enhance the country’s international standing as the host of this significant multilateral event.
“The objectives of the conference will be to provide a high-level global forum for multidimensional dialogue, advocacy, peer review and shared commitment to celebrate the 30 years of progress in achieving ICPD Program of Action, while setting the stage to recommit and focus on the future,” he said.
“This proposed consultative meeting on ICPD30 will enable high-level officials, subject experts, representatives from development partners and youth leaders to discuss and agree on the priority actions to be taken to finish the unfinished agenda of the ICPD Program of Action, and to assess the status of the 2019 Nairobi Commitments.”
The programme is being organised by Partners in Population and Development (PPD), a ministerial-level inter-governmental body composed of 27 member countries that represent more than 60 percent of the world’s population and the United Nations Population Fund.
Dr Mombeshora said the conference would also help to depolarise the ICPD agenda on some key issues and aim to bring everyone together to reinvigorate our common drive for the goals while also shaping the future agenda for ICPD and strengthening South-South and Triangular Cooperation as an accelerator in the achievement of ICPD goals.
After the conference, an outcome document will feed into the global consultations aiming to reaffirm the ICPD POA objectives.
The ICPD Programme of Action was adopted by representatives of 179 Governments in Cairo in 1994.
The Program of Action recognized reproductive health and the empowerment of women and gender equality as pillars of sustainable development.
At the last ICPD25 held in Cairo, the Governments made commitments to address maternal deaths, unmet need for family planning services, and gender- based violence.
Zimbabwe, along with the rest of the Governments made national commitments in five areas, namely: universal access to sexual and reproductive health, financial resources to finish the ICPD Program of Action, demographic diversity to drive economic growth and achieve sustainable development and gender. It is expected that next week’s meeting will take on a South-South Triangular Cooperation lens by looking at how this can accelerate the achievement of the ICPD Program of Action.
Herald
