NATIONAL POPULATION COUNCILS

CAIRO COMMITMENT/ANNOUNCEMENT 2002

We the heads of delegations and the members of National Population Councils and related institutions in Arab countries and the participants in the fifth meeting of NPCs, and in the context of the preparation for ICPD+10 to evaluate �Amman Declaration on population and development 1993� and Cairo Action Plan �ICPD 1994�. We recommend the following:

�  Affirming the implementation of �Amman Declaration on population and development 1993� and �Cairo Action Plan ICPD 1994� recommendations, and making progress in the applying their recommendations and executive procedures for both the Arab following up conference 1998, and the international one 1999.

�  Realizing that population issues are rising and influence other developmental dimensions which can�t be neglected, we commit ourselves to implement development goals for the third millennium, focusing on poverty alleviation, safe motherhood, improving health, securing reproductive rights, combating HIV/AIDS, protecting environment, providing primary education, narrowing gender gap, and empowering women.

�  In spite of the great efforts which were done by countries all over the world and Arab countries during the last decade in the fields of development generally and in making important progress in implementing the recommendations of both the international and Arab conferences on population and development, it is important to recognize that the state of population in the world and in Arab countries is still in need for intensive efforts due to what is reflected in the following indicators:

-               There is a 34% shortfall in meeting the agreed global resource target for 2000 of $17 billion for population and reproductive health programs, 24% in domestic resources and approximately 55% in external resources.

-               Each year, over 500.000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth, another 7 million suffer infection or injury.

-               Worldwide, 350 million women are denied access to a range of safe and effective contraceptives. Each year, nearly 175 million pregnancies are unwanted or ill-timed.

-               Close to 40 million abortions occur each year, often under unsafe conditions. Some 78.000 women, or 227 a day, die every year as a result of unsafe interruptions of pregnancy.

-               In 2001, 5 million people became infected with HIV; 800.000 of them were children; 3 million people died of AIDS that same year.

-               Half of all new cases of HIV infection are among young people aged 15-24, with girls at particular risk.

On the Arab level:

-               Infant mortality rate in Arab countries is between 10 and 75 per one thousand, and between 20 and 100 per one thousand for infants aged below 5 years. Each day, 340.000 women die as a result of unsafe interruptions of pregnancy. The maternal mortality rate is exceeding 75 deaths per 100.000 births in more than half of Arab countries, and reaches 200 deaths per 100.000 births in one third of Arab countries.

-               The aggregate fertility rate in Arab countries is approximately 4.5 child per woman aged 15-49 years.

-               The percentage of children suffering from dwarfism is 21.6% from all children aged below 5 years.

-               Illiteracy rate (illiteracy of reading and writing) between adult population in Arab region is 38.7%, the rate of illiterate women is 51%.

According to the previous facts we call for the following actions:

�        The wide Arab participation to evaluate achievements in the field of implementing the recommendations of the international action plan and the second Amman Declaration for the coming decade, seeking an accurate determination of new challenges to face them efficiently.

�        Supporting the national budgets specified for population and reproductive health programs between 5-10% from national budgets specified for development, and to diversify funding resources for population and reproductive health programs, and to create new resources to provide reproductive health tools and services through national programs of health and poverty alleviation.

�        Narrowing the gender gap through providing equal opportunities in the field of Arab women education, employment, and their political and economic participation, focusing on improving their skills, information, and technical and vocational abilities. And to provide the institutional environment which empowers the Arab women to play their various roles.

�        Seeking to decrease maternal mortality and morbidity, and to secure providing high quality reproductive health services and to give these policies the first priority in public health programs.

�        Seeking to decrease infant mortality and secure providing health services for them.

�        Supporting the awareness of public health and the dimensions of reproductive health in order to secure safe pregnancy and childbirth and to deepen the principle of participation in the roles and responsibilities of family members.

�        Assuring that youth and adolescents �in and out schools- receive information related to public and reproductive health in a suitable language, as well as services and opportunities to participate in the planning of policies and programs that target them, and to formulate assured and responsible alternatives and decisions towards their needs.

�        Making all efforts to facilitate accessing reproductive health tools and services by 2015, and encouraging volunteering work, civil society and private sector to work together with the government support to achieve this target.

�        Securing the continuous support to the joint Arab work to empower The League of Arab States to play its roles in the Arab integration and the efficient contribution in supporting population policies in Arab countries interested in following up the implementation of the recommendation of Amman Declaration 2 and the action plan of The International Conference on Population and Development.

�        Mobilizing efforts to localize knowledge and information and communication technology and their application in a wide and efficient way, and the contribution in producing its recourses to maximize the success and efficiency population activities, especially in the fields of data allocation, establishing and developing data bases and banks and networks, and empowering the use of developed applications and programs.

�        Calling the Arab countries to increase their support to The UNFPA to secure the continuous implementation of its programs.