Women are having fewer children than ever before, and population growth has slowed from 2.0 to 1.3 per cent in 30 years. But large families in the recent past mean that there are many more women of childbearing age. Global population is still rising by about 78 million people a year. Half the world is under 25 and there are over a billion young people between 15 and 24, the parents of the next generation.

After describing the international consensus reached in Beijing about empowering women and ending gender inequality, and defining key human rights concepts, the report examines key issues related to reproductive health and rights that affect women throughout their lives. Topics covered include: Early life chances, The mutual relationship between reproductive health and education, Adolescence and the transition to adulthood, Marriage and the family, Labour force participation and employment, Reproductive health and violence and Issues affecting the health of older women

The report examines a broad range of evidence from around the world showing that systematic discrimination against women and girls causes extensive suffering and lost opportunities for both women and men, and holds back efforts to reduce poverty, improve health, stem the spread of HIV/AIDS and slow rapid population growth.

"Partnering" shows how a global consensus is emerging on how to scale up successful programmes that involve men without diverting scarce resources from women's health. In fact, men are more and more taking ownership of mobilization and advocacy for the emergence of a more gender equitable young man.

These guidelines describe the strategies for achieving elimination of maternal and neonatal tetanus by the year 2005 and, once elimination is achieved, for maintaining it. They are intended for public health managers at the national and distric levels in countries that have not yet reached the goal and for the organizations that provide them with technical assistance. They will also be useful for development partners that are planning financial or other support.

This report is intended to be a tool for donor and developing country Governments, multilateral organizations and agencies, private foundations and NGOs to monitor progress in achieving the financial resource targets agreed to at the ICPD. Development cooperation officers and policy makers in developing countries can use the report to identify the domestically generated resources and complementary resources from donors needed to finance population and reproductive health programmes.

Human activity is altering the planet on an unprecedented scale, the report points out. More people are using more resources with more intensity and leaving a bigger "footprint" on the earth than ever before. The report examines the close links between environmental conditions, population trends, and prospects for alleviating poverty in developing countries. It finds that expanding women's opportunities and ensuring their reproductive health and rights are critically important, both to improve the well-being of growing human populations and to protect the natural world.

Wars or natural disasters deprive people of life-saving reproductive health information and services. This advocacy booklet details UNFPA's work with global partners to respond to the reproductive health needs of refugees and internally displaced persons in crisis situations around the world: providing services to address complications of pregnancy and delivery, the transmission of sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS, adolescent health, violence against women, and access to condoms and other contraceptives.