Q&A: Meeting a World of Seven Billion with Optimism

Kanya D'Almeida interviews DR. BABATUNDE OSOTIMEHIN, executive
director of UNFPA
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 3 (IPS) Before the end of 2011 there will be more
humans on earth than
in all of the planet's 4.5-billion-year history. As the world
steels itself to support its seven billion-strong population,
Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, the new executive director of the
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), greets the impending
challenges with gusto.

Armed with a total budget of close to 900 million dollars,
and support from over 150 donors, including the Netherlands,
Britain, Sweden, Norway, the United States, Spain, Denmark,
Finland, Switzerland and Japan, the UNFPA begins its journey
under new leadership on sound financial footing.

Taking its cue from the "rights-based approach" to
development that was born out of the 1994 International
Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), the UNFPA
believes in "people, not numbers". This framework is more
important now than ever before, as the world's population
races ever-upwards.

With a strong focus on the empowerment of youth and the
promotion of comprehensive reproductive health across the
world, Dr. Osotimehin is determined to steer the UNFPA
towards a future that addresses the needs of women and
children, the world's most vulnerable populations.

Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: What are UNFPA's most urgent priorities for 2011, and the
coming years?
A: Firstly, greater visibility for the organisation and also
accountability and transparency for all that we do.
Secondly, this year will focus on youth and adolescence,
particularly adolescent girls. In doing so, we will be
addressing major areas of women's development, which deal
with maternal health, child marriages and family planning.

The areas most affected by a projected population of seven
billion will be the developing world, 60 to 70 percent of
which is under the age of 30. The next set of parents, the
next generation who are going to make decisions about the
world, all fall into that category. If we want to shape not
only the population of the world but also the development of
the world, then we have to begin with the youth and take an
extremely comprehensive view of the challenges they face.

We must provide education that incorporates extensive
information on sexuality and reproductive health, access to
services, provision of employment, participation in social
and political spheres, and total inclusiveness in the
world's processes. That's where the difference is going to
come from.

Q: How does the UNFPA plan to deal with the world's one
billion-strong slum population?
A: There is no doubt that cities and megacities will
continue to increase along with population. Our main
strategy is to monitor governments' responses to development
plans that are affecting their people. But the UNFPA is not
a large organisation and we obviously cannot deal with the
issue of slums all by ourselves.

We will work with our sister agencies at the U.N., plus
civil society and all of our development partners to ensure
that national governments and member states do proper
planning for housing and health, provide proper education,
ensure inclusion in political processes, and ensure that
young people have employment opportunities.

We will also push our own mandate of adequate information
and services for reproductive health and reiterate the
ability of every human being to make voluntary choices about
their own lives.

Q: Can you give some "best practice" examples of
UNFPA's
work with local, grassroots partners?
A: There have been many. For example, we have implemented
the Fistula Project in almost 50 countries, which reaches
out to very remote areas via local partners and offers
treatment and services to women suffering from fistula. This
has been very successful.

We have also dealt successfully with the issue of female
genital mutilation and cutting through our partners on the
ground, not only by fundamentally changing the mindsets of
the people, but also by provoking preventative legislation
across the globe.

Q: What are some of the biggest challenges you face?
A: MDG 5 [maternal health] is the primary business of UNFPA.
We have been working on the ABCs of this problem for a long
time, partnering with member states and putting in place
programmes that address the issue. Maternal mortality is a
fairly complex issue – it's not just about the provision of
hospitals, or the provision of doctors or nurses or
midwives. It also involves various other interrelated issues
such as transportation, culture, etc.

Forty-three percent, perhaps even more in some places, of
maternal mortality is due to illegal abortions. We need to
have systems in place that provide information to young
people to enable them to make choices on their own and avoid
life-threatening situations. In countries where abortions
are legal, such services should be safe.

Q: Do you see environmental issues as inherently related to
the work of the UNFPA?
A: To the extent that issues of migration and climate change
affect women and children, yes. One of the issues that is
terribly overlooked is the problem of desertification – this
forces women to travel much longer distances in order secure
bare necessities like wood for fire and water. Children are
forced to travel back and forth, making them increasingly
vulnerable.

Desertification also induces migration, which creates an
even greater climate of vulnerability for the displaced or
migrant populations and sometimes leads to conflict. And
conflict, as we know, disproportionately affects women and
children.

Q: What have been UNFPA's greatest strengths in the last
decade?
A: Our ability to promote sound reproductive health and
rights across the world. We have now increased knowledge
about sexual education, we have promoted access to family
planning commodities, we've been able to work with
governments to talk about the prevention of HIV/AIDS, [and]
we've done far more in terms of maternal health.

We've enabled governments to utilise the "one-stop-shop"
model, where they can integrate various reproductive
services. In the last year we've also worked more closely
with our partners, particularly the H4+ [UNAIDS, World Bank,
UNICEF, World Health Organisation and UNFPA], to work with
the secretary-general on his global strategy on women and
children's health. Through this initiative we have worked
with as many as 25 countries to commit themselves to working
actively on women and children's health, including
reproductive health.