The poor need better contraception
Tuesday, 17 July 2007
David Cronin from the Hague
The use of contraceptives in poor countries needs to be actively promoted, the Dutch minister for development assistance has said.
Bert Koenders, who recently marked his first 100 days as member of the Dutch government, claimed that an "ideological campaign against condoms is sabotaging the fight against AIDS."
Most of the 2.9 million deaths attributed to AIDS last year "would have been avoided if condoms were easily available," he argued.
Koenders, who was speaking at the 50th anniversary congress of the Society for International Development (SID) at The Hague, has been vociferous in urging that there is need for widespread access to sexual and reproductive health facilities in poor countries. He has protested about the stance taken by the Vatican, the United States and "conservative Islamic regimes" against family planning.
The minister also said that the European Union's activities on AIDS need to be scrutinised. The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, is currently drawing up plans to spend nearly 23 billion euros (31 billion dollars) in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries in the 2007-13 period. Anti-poverty activists have stated that virtually no projects for combating AIDS are recommended for funding in more than 60 of the aid plans so far drafted.
Koenders indicated that the Commission could be excused for not targeting AIDS specifically if it or EU governments are providing adequate support to health systems in general. "It's not necessarily bad," he told IPS. "But we should check if the overall picture is okay."
However, Françoise Moreau, a senior official in the Commission's department for development, admitted Jul. 4 that her institution had decided to prioritise infrastructure over health and education in its aid activities.
Koenders argued that an "active agenda for women's rights" must be central towards international efforts to ease hardship.
"Seventy percent of the poor are women," he said. "This is no coincidence, when you consider that girls attend school less frequently than boys. Every minute in the South a woman dies in childbirth or during pregnancy. That woman loses her life and a family loses its mother."
Unsafe abortion, he noted, is "in many countries the main cause of death to teenage girls," a situation he described as "intolerable".
"Sexual and reproductive rights are extremely political," he added. "They are about women's freedom in spacing children and in their sex lives."
Koenders, a member of the Dutch Labour Party, argued that greater attention needs to be paid to 'failed' states, which have been ravaged by conflict or political instability. One-tenth of all poor people in developing countries live in such states, he said. Sudan, where killings by the government-backed Janjaweed militia in Darfur province have often been equated to genocide, is considered "the world's number one failed state", he added.
He recognised that it is difficult to ensure that aid to failed states benefits the neediest, especially if it is channelled through their national authorities. "In fragile states, governments may not be the most reliable partner but there are others we can work with. I'm convinced that development cooperation will only work if we ensure it reaches those it is meant for. We should have zero tolerance for corruption but that doesn't mean we shouldn't take risks."
Koenders also argued that economic growth is of enormous importance to poor countries.
But this analysis was challenged by Gita Sen, professor of public policy at the Indian Institute of Management.
Sen has lived in Bangalore, India's third largest city, since 1993. Its bourgeoning technology industry, she said, has made it "an incredible icon for the new economy", yet inequalities in the surrounding area have widened while this growth has taken place.
"In this unbridled economic boom, all resources are increasingly being privatised," she said. "So people in Bangalore cannot afford housing, water and land. Their lives have not become easier. They have become more difficult."
One of the biggest challenges for anti-poverty campaigners, she said, is to challenge the idea that economic growth is the key to reducing poverty. "We don't seem to learn anything from the history of economic booms," she said.
The calamitous effects of global warning, she said, mean that "100 years will not be available to us" to assess the impact of the current rise in the economic prowess of India and China.
Richard Jolly, honorary professor at Britain's University of Sussex, contended that the role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in fighting poverty cannot be overstressed. Rich countries are only under pressure to honour commitments on allocating at least 0.7 percent of their gross national income to development aid because of public campaigns. "The aid story would have sunk without trace if it was left to governments," he said.
Rebeca Grynspan, former vice-president of Costa Rica and now director for Latin America and the Caribbean with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), called for defence spending in rich countries to decrease and aid directed to the welfare of children in poor countries to increase. "A lot of taxes that are now going to buying armaments should go to young people," she said.
Jos van Gennip, vice-president of the Society for International Development, lamented how aid from rich countries to the poor fell last year despite promises made in 2005 to ensure that it rises. He described the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of reducing extreme poverty by 2015 as "unprecedented time-bound promises to address development, peace and security." But he noted that "not one low-income country in Africa is on track for reaching the MDGs in seven-and-a-half years time."
Inter Press Service
The use of contraceptives in poor countries needs to be actively promoted, the Dutch minister for development assistance has said.
Bert Koenders, who recently marked his first 100 days as member of the Dutch government, claimed that an "ideological campaign against condoms is sabotaging the fight against AIDS."
Most of the 2.9 million deaths attributed to AIDS last year "would have been avoided if condoms were easily available," he argued.
Koenders, who was speaking at the 50th anniversary congress of the Society for International Development (SID) at The Hague, has been vociferous in urging that there is need for widespread access to sexual and reproductive health facilities in poor countries. He has protested about the stance taken by the Vatican, the United States and "conservative Islamic regimes" against family planning.
The minister also said that the European Union's activities on AIDS need to be scrutinised. The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, is currently drawing up plans to spend nearly 23 billion euros (31 billion dollars) in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries in the 2007-13 period. Anti-poverty activists have stated that virtually no projects for combating AIDS are recommended for funding in more than 60 of the aid plans so far drafted.
Koenders indicated that the Commission could be excused for not targeting AIDS specifically if it or EU governments are providing adequate support to health systems in general. "It's not necessarily bad," he told IPS. "But we should check if the overall picture is okay."
However, Françoise Moreau, a senior official in the Commission's department for development, admitted Jul. 4 that her institution had decided to prioritise infrastructure over health and education in its aid activities.
Koenders argued that an "active agenda for women's rights" must be central towards international efforts to ease hardship.
"Seventy percent of the poor are women," he said. "This is no coincidence, when you consider that girls attend school less frequently than boys. Every minute in the South a woman dies in childbirth or during pregnancy. That woman loses her life and a family loses its mother."
Unsafe abortion, he noted, is "in many countries the main cause of death to teenage girls," a situation he described as "intolerable".
"Sexual and reproductive rights are extremely political," he added. "They are about women's freedom in spacing children and in their sex lives."
Koenders, a member of the Dutch Labour Party, argued that greater attention needs to be paid to 'failed' states, which have been ravaged by conflict or political instability. One-tenth of all poor people in developing countries live in such states, he said. Sudan, where killings by the government-backed Janjaweed militia in Darfur province have often been equated to genocide, is considered "the world's number one failed state", he added.
He recognised that it is difficult to ensure that aid to failed states benefits the neediest, especially if it is channelled through their national authorities. "In fragile states, governments may not be the most reliable partner but there are others we can work with. I'm convinced that development cooperation will only work if we ensure it reaches those it is meant for. We should have zero tolerance for corruption but that doesn't mean we shouldn't take risks."
Koenders also argued that economic growth is of enormous importance to poor countries.
But this analysis was challenged by Gita Sen, professor of public policy at the Indian Institute of Management.
Sen has lived in Bangalore, India's third largest city, since 1993. Its bourgeoning technology industry, she said, has made it "an incredible icon for the new economy", yet inequalities in the surrounding area have widened while this growth has taken place.
"In this unbridled economic boom, all resources are increasingly being privatised," she said. "So people in Bangalore cannot afford housing, water and land. Their lives have not become easier. They have become more difficult."
One of the biggest challenges for anti-poverty campaigners, she said, is to challenge the idea that economic growth is the key to reducing poverty. "We don't seem to learn anything from the history of economic booms," she said.
The calamitous effects of global warning, she said, mean that "100 years will not be available to us" to assess the impact of the current rise in the economic prowess of India and China.
Richard Jolly, honorary professor at Britain's University of Sussex, contended that the role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in fighting poverty cannot be overstressed. Rich countries are only under pressure to honour commitments on allocating at least 0.7 percent of their gross national income to development aid because of public campaigns. "The aid story would have sunk without trace if it was left to governments," he said.
Rebeca Grynspan, former vice-president of Costa Rica and now director for Latin America and the Caribbean with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), called for defence spending in rich countries to decrease and aid directed to the welfare of children in poor countries to increase. "A lot of taxes that are now going to buying armaments should go to young people," she said.
Jos van Gennip, vice-president of the Society for International Development, lamented how aid from rich countries to the poor fell last year despite promises made in 2005 to ensure that it rises. He described the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of reducing extreme poverty by 2015 as "unprecedented time-bound promises to address development, peace and security." But he noted that "not one low-income country in Africa is on track for reaching the MDGs in seven-and-a-half years time."
Inter Press Service