Seventy-nine member governments of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) Monday signed an agreement in Belgium with the United Nations Population Fund to work together to tackle problems of reproductive health, including HIV/AIDS.
– UNFPA and the ACP Group share the objective of poverty elimination and recognize that population and reproductive health programmes are crucial to attaining the Millennium Development Goals, said UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid at the signing ceremony in Brussels.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), agreed on at a UN summit in September 2000, include the aim to halve extreme poverty by 2015.
The UNFPA-ACP agreement promotes close policy relationships between reproductive health, gender equality, girls education, womens empowerment and sustainable development.
UNFPA will help ACP countries ensure that the goals of the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) are included in programmes to promote sustainable development.
– Making motherhood safer for all women is at the heart of UNFPAs mandate, the Fund said.
Kilde: FNs nyhedstjeneste
