Following the announcement by the US Department of State, on 24 March 2009, that it will contribute about $50 million to UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, in 2009, Ms. Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, UNFPA Executive Director, issued the following remarks:

“The announcement by the State Department to officially resume US funding heralds a new era for women, girls and their families around the world. It underlines the Obama Administration’s support to protecting the lives and human dignity of women and girls.

“We are delighted that the United States will, once again, take a leading role in championing women’s reproductive health and rights, alongside all other countries and partners that have supported UNFPA over the years.

“We look forward to working with the US Administration to achieve our collective goal of supporting women and girls in the poorest countries to reach their fullest potential. The resumption of US funding would allow us to maintain our ongoing global initiatives, such as training midwives to ensure safe deliveries, expanding access to family planning, delivering reproductive health supplies to clinics in remote areas, supporting the treatment of obstetric fistula, meeting the special needs of women in humanitarian emergencies, preventing HIV among young people, and ending violence against women.

“We believe that access to safe and effective voluntary family planning is one of the most effective ways to prevent unintended pregnancies and empower women and men to plan their families. Today’s announcement by the State Department will further enable women to make decisions on the number and spacing of children, as a first step for them to make decisions about their life and to participate in the decisions of the family and the community, and thus of their nations. If a woman cannot make decisions about her own fertility, then she cannot make decisions about anything else in her life.”