<p>UNITED NATIONS—Investments of $64.7 billion are needed in 2010 for population programmes that are essential to reduce poverty, promote development and curtail maternal death, according to a revision approved by United Nations Members at the closing session of the Commission on Population and Development (CPD) late on Friday.</p>

<p>RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — “We need to redefine what it means to be a man, reinforce zero tolerance of gender-based violence, and make sexual and reproductive health services more relevant and user-friendly for men,” Purnima Mane, Deputy Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, told participants in a global symposium on gender equality here today.</p>

<p>UNITED NATIONS, New York—The world’s developing countries told a United Nations meeting here on Monday, “the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action is crucial for the eradication of extreme poverty as well as the achievement of the other Millennium Development Goals.”</p>

<p>UNITED NATIONS —Yesterday’s action by President Barack Obama to pave the way for the release of United States funding for UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, reminds the world of his commitment to women’s health, rights and equality, according to UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid.</p>

<p>UNITED NATIONS—New world population projections for the year 2050 by the United Nations underline the need to provide couples with the means to exercise their human right to determine freely the number of their children, said Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, the Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.</p>

<p> <b>UNITED NATIONS, New York</b> – An Egyptian doctor, Mahmoud Fathalla, and a Nicaraguan non-governmental organization, Movimiento Comunal Nicaragüense (MCN), have won this year’s United Nations Population Award.</p>

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka</b>– Women and girls caught up in the ongoing warfare in northern Sri Lanka are at grave risk, according to UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.

<p> <b>Bangkok</b> (ESCAP/UNFPA) – Reproductive health, gender equality and policies addressing population concerns remain central to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific, regional specialists agreed here this week.</p>

<p>UNFPA applauds today's statement from United States President Barack Obama restoring U.S. funding for UNFPA's operations.</p>

<p>An earthquake that hit Costa Rica earlier this month has left pregnant women and young people particularly vulnerable. Nearly 4,000 people, a majority of them women and children, were forced to move to emergency shelters.</p>

<p class="bodytext"> <strong>UNITED NATIONS, New York</strong>—Every minute somewhere in the world a woman dies in pregnancy or childbirth, and the women in the world’s least developed countries are 300 times more likely to die in childbirth than those in developed countries.</p>

<p class="bodytext"> <strong>New York/Jerusalem</strong>—Continuing violence and displacement present serious risks to more than 40,000 pregnant women in Gaza, warned UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. Lack of access to critical health services, including emergency obstetric care, could mean the difference between life and death for many of them and their babies.</p>