BRUSSELS, 10 October: Europe needs to reverse a decline in aid for sexual and reproductive health in developing nations where a woman dies almost every minute in pregnancy or childbirth, population experts said Tuesday.
A woman in Sweden has a 1 in 30.000 chance of dying as a result of pregnancy or childbirth, while the risk is 1 in 7 for women in Sierra Leone or Afghanistan, the German Foundation for World Population estimated in report released at a conference on reproductive health.
According to the study, European Commission aid allotted for sexual and reproductive health decreased from only 18,5 million euro per year between 2003 and 2006 to a mere 12,3 million euro per year earmarked for 2007 to 2013.
– Europe is not delivering,” said Anne van Lancker, a Belgian socialist member of the European Parliament.
Sexual health-related aid from Europe was geared only toward HIV and AIDS this year, said Karen Hoehn, European affairs director of the foundation, which is known by its German acronym DSW.
She said that help was imperative, but cash was also needed for family planning and reproductive health.
Europe accounts for nearly 65 percent of world development aid, but the DSW said support for reproductive health represented just a tiny 1,8 percent of total EU aid in 2004, down from 2,8 percent in 2002.
Kilde: The Push Journal
