UNITED NATIONS, New York—First Ladies, ministers, and development experts will gather this week to share their countries’ successes and challenges in the field of sexual and reproductive health commodity security. The high-level meeting, to take place in New York on 7-8 September, will also look into ways to bridge the gap in essential supplies to save the lives and health of millions of women in developing countries.

In 2007, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, launched a global programme to help countries adopt predictable and planned methods of securing reproductive health supplies and ensuring their use. With more than $300 million mobilized so far, the initiative has helped many of the neediest countries improve their supplies. It has also encouraged governments to view commodity security as essential to their efforts to improve the reproductive health of their populations.

During the high-level meeting, representatives of these countries are due to discuss strategies to ensure even greater success and declare their commitment to support voluntary family planning and reproductive health supplies. Worldwide, more than 200 million women want to use safe and effective family planning methods but cannot.

WHO:

Participants are scheduled to include First Ladies and representatives from Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Haiti, Laos, Madagascar, Mali, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. The meeting will also be attended by representatives of the Netherlands, the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom and the United States Agency for International Development.

WHEN & WHERE:

Wednesday, 7 September, 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.; UN Millennium Plaza Hotel.
Thursday, 8 September, 9:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.; ECOSOC Chamber, United Nations.

Journalists are welcome to attend the high-level meeting.

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For more information, please contact:
Abubakar Dungus: Tel: +1 212 297 5031; dungus@unfpa.org
Omar Gharzeddine: Tel: +1 212 297 5028; gharzeddine@unfpa.org