UNFPA ready to support Ghana achieve development goals
The Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Dr Babatunde Osotimehin has pledged his commitment to support Ghana to achieve its population development goals.
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He however appealed to the government to speed up the administrative process to enable the newly appointed UNFPA country representative to take up office to provide the required leadership for the country office to perform.
The last country representative of ended his term if office at the end of January 2014.
Meeting at UN headquarters
Dr. Osotimehin made these statements during a meeting with Nana Oye Lithur, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection at the UNFPA headquarters in New York, USA.
He said there was the need to accelerate plans for Ghana and cited for instance that the challenges posed by the differences in the coastal and savannah areas of Ghana needs to be strategically addressed.
Dr. Osotimehin emphasised that the UNFPA’s goal was to create an equitable and just society that is not discriminatory.
Reproductive rights
He was concerned that many African countries are yet to appreciate the importance of promoting reproductive rights, adding that “Africa is doing itself an injustice.”
According to him, the report of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) beyond 2014 review indicated an overwhelming evidence of productive issues that must be looked at holistically in Africa.
“UNFPA is just promoting sexual rights. Can you honestly talk about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), women empowerment, Gender-based Violence (GBV)and improving maternal mortality without talking about rights?, he stated.
UNFPA support
Nana Oye thanked the UNFPA for its support to Ghana for sexual and reproductive rights.
She said for the first time in the history of Ghana the government has set up a national machinery for the care of the elderly.
She said the Ministry is looking at strengthening support to deal with child marriages.
In addition, she said, the ministry is in the process of scaling up prevention of
The Coordinator of the ICPD Beyond 2014 Secretariat, Mr. Kwabena Osei-Danquah said the ICPD agenda is for the individual well-being of people.