By Daniel Itai.
Kenya. (News of The South) – More than 6 000 world leaders, scholars, advocates, faith leaders and others have converged at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) summit in Nairobi, Kenya.
Held under the theme Accelerating the Promise, the summit seeks to galvanise change and mobilise both political will and financial commitment to push forward the unfinished business of the ICPD Programme of Action, as well as build momentum for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Speaking on the sidelines of the opening yesterday, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Natalia Kanem said, “since the Cairo ICPD, we have put women and girls at the center of global development. This has paid off time and again. That ICPD vision is still far from reality, and that journey that began 25 years ago in Cairo is far from over, it’s now time to finish that unfinished business.”
Over 800 women die each day from preventable causes during pregnancy and childbirth while some 232 million women want to prevent pregnancy but not using modern contraception.
The Summit aims to tackle these problems as well as putting a stop to gender based violence, child marriage and female genital mutilation.
United Nations (UN)’s deputy secretary general Amina Mohammed said, “as critical accelerators for the Sustainable Development Goals, the outcomes of ICPD must be carried forward. The success of the global agenda for sustainable development, our common framework for people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership, depends on it.”
Denmark’s minister for Development Cooperation Rasmus Prehn concurred with the UN’s secretary general saying, “Denmark will continue to work at the very front together with partners. If we want to reach the 2030 agenda, we must fulfill the promise of Cairo.”
The Nairobi Summit puts focus on five main issues, sexual and reproductive health as part of universal health coverage, the funding required to realize all goals of the ICPD’s Program of Action, demographic diversity and its power to drive economic growth and sustainable development, measures to end gender based violence and harmful practices and the right to sexual and reproductive health care, even in humanitarian and fragile contexts.
The Summit is designed to be a radically inclusive forum, bringing heads of state together with grassroots advocates and members of marginalized communities.
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