• Developing countries told the investment would lead to sustainable development

Nusa Dua (Bali), January 27 As thousands of researchers and stakeholders attending the fourth international conference on family planning in Bali, Indonesia, have intensified discussion on the future of the global family planning campaign, experts have highlighted that the family planning is key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The world forum has provided ample opportunities to the developing countries like Nepal to learn and share the best practices while accelerating their sexual reproductive health and family planning campaigns, according to Jagdish Upadhyay, Head of Reproductive Health Commodity Security and Family Planning at the UNFPA. “This time is very important for all stakeholders who work in the field of family planning and sexual reproductive health to shape their agenda to meet the target of the SDGs,” he told this daily while talking on the sidelines of the ICFP 2016. Upadhyay, who leads the UNFPA’s family planning work across the world from the agency’s headquarters, also urged for a participatory approach that Nepal could adopt to implement the highly successful social marketing campaign in family planning. “Developing countries like Nepal can easily address the unmet need of contraceptives by focusing more on participatory social marketing approaches in which family planning should have been treated as human rights, particularly the rights of girls and women,” he said. According to him, developing countries need more investment to expedite family planning campaign. Do countries like Nepal really need family planning programmes, as they already have lowered their total fertility rates as well as the infant and maternal mortality ratios? The UN executive said the stakeholders and the government mechanisms must increase their investment in the family planning campaign as such campaign would never last. “It’s not merely controlling the number of newborns but it’s all about planning for a better family considering it as the universal human rights of a girl, an adolescent or women,” he said. Saying that the family planning is key to achieving the SDGs target by 2030, Upadhyay also highlighted that UNFPA was equally prioritising the FP2020 campaign. “UNFPA is committed to supporting the implementing agencies to make FP2020 a success as well as to drive the family planning work for achieving the SDGs,” he added. In the conference, young leaders also discussed specific ways to improve the sexual and reproductive health of young people, including youth-friendly health services, laws and policies focused on adolescent health, and conditional cash transfer programmes. They also emphasised the need to meaningfully engage youth and adolescents as key partners and decision-makers on family planning. “The issue of adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights is not just one about information; it is fundamentally interlaced with intersectional issues of social justice, finance and poverty alleviation,” said Nomtika Mjwana, young leader and ZAZI Women Empowerment Ambassador from South Africa. The world’s population of young people is at a historic high, with 1.8 billion people entering their reproductive years. Adolescent girls are at a dramatically heightened risk for pregnancy - and childbirth-related health complications, which is a leading cause of death among girls aged 15-19 years in low- and middle-income countries. “It is the opportunities, the needs and the choices of young people today that will define the world not only as we know it, but as we want it,” said Katja Iversen, CEO of Women Deliver at the official ICFP press conference. “Our youth leaders have told us loud and clear: know our interests and work with us, co-design and co-create with us to drive successful programmes; invest in our empowerment education, health and employment; recognise that we are our nations’ precious human resources and investments in us will produce wealth and well-being for all nations; leverage our collective power for the collective transformation we can bring to the 2030 agenda,” said Dr Benoit Kalasa, Director of the Technical Division, UNFPA. “Our journey to 2030 starts and ends with prioritising adolescents and youth.” The conference which recorded a number of plenary sessions, presentations and exhibitions will end tomorrow after discussing global partnerships and actors, human rights and acceleration of progress towards 2020.