Behailu Shiferaw, Editor-in-chief, Lambadina
Note: Ms. Mari Simonen is UN Assistant Secretary General and Deputy Executive Director of the UNFPA. I met her at the ICPD+15 that was held in Addis Ababa, Economic commission for Africa hall.
Q: What is your general impression about the over all proceeding of the ICPD/15?
A: I am very impressed by the commitment of everybody who is here. They really worked very hard to do a very substantive review by each country of what they have been working on over the past fifteen years to implement the ICPD Program of Action. And they have come together and had several days of a very engaging discussions and were able to agree to forward looking and very clear program of commitments for the next four years. So clearly [there are] a lot of commitments and dedication to continue to work on these issues.
Q:But we have had several commitments signed before. For example, eight years after the Abuja Declaration of 2001 where African leaders agreed to commit more than 15 percent of their annual budget to health sector, only Botswana seems to have achieved that. So what’s African peoples’ assurance that the commitments made at ICPD + 15 are not just another list of commitments from African leaders?
A: We need to continue to be vigilant. That is why these kinds of review conferences are important so that we can take stock [and] we can see what has been done and what has not been done. I think one essential part is to monitor carefully every year if the changes actually do take place and help each country to try to achieve; help each country to find smaller steps that they can take even if they cannot do all of it.
Q: As a UNFPA deputy secretary general, do you think Africa is truly on track to achieve the MDGs and the ICDP?
A: Africa is making a big effort. Every country is making big efforts. So what is important to focus on is to build on the positive changes and use that as an encouragement to do even more. There are big challenges. Not all the goals will be achieved in the time frame. But that should not limit us from continuing to try and making changes in a number of areas. Some [countries] were lagging behind others but we continue. The main thing is to persevere with patience taking a careful look at what works and what doesn’t work so that we invest more on those things that actually work.
Q: In 27 years, Ethiopia is going to be a country of over 150 million people if things go on at the same rate. Do you think Ethiopia with only six percent of its mothers giving birth with professional birth attendant and Africa [hosting more than 48 percent of the global maternal deaths and high rate of youth unemployment,] afford to welcome more and more population with the limited resources we have?
A:The important thing is to make sure that little by little you expand the coverage of [reproductive health] services. So let’s focus on making progress on having these services accessible to a larger number of women little by little but with a clear idea of where we are going and how we can get there. We should not be discouraged by the fact that we are so far from the goals. Even making small steps is better than making no steps at all. I think that is the basic message of the conference. There is progress. It is not enough but that is not to discourage us. It is [important] to look at those things that work and to continue to build on them so that we can bring to scale the very good smaller initiatives that exist in many communities and make sure that gradually and eventually they will reach every person who wants to use the services. If [we] extend the availability of family planning, maternal health care and all the other reproductive health care components to every person in every corner of our countries that will in itself make sure that there will be a more balanced population growth which is in synch with the available resources that the country has.
Q: What is the role of the media in realizing the commitments as a stakeholder? And how much ready is UNFPA to work with the media?
A: The role of the media is absolutely critical in helping to communicate and to convey correct information among different groups of people. Media has big responsibility to look for the facts, evidence and to share that in a balanced way. You can combat the misconceptions and lack of information that exists on these kinds of issues. And of course, UNFPA continues to work with media. It is a very important partnership and we hope that your [media] network [on population and development] will do the same.
