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Summer 2009/10

Welcome to the Australian Parliamentary Group on Population and Development (PGPD)
e-newsletter, providing updates on PGPD activities and the latest news on population and development and sexual and reproductive health.

Reproductive health in crisis - study tour to Philippines


Senator McEwen with children living under a bridge in Manila following Typhoon Ondoy

The PGPD proudly supports the innovative SPRINT Initiative (Sexual and Reproductive Health Programme in Crisis and Post-Crisis Situations in East, Southeast Asia and the Pacific), managed by the International Planned Parenthood Federation and funded by AusAID.

SPRINT fills an urgent need in responding to crisis and post-crisis situations. Sexual and reproductive health needs are often overlooked in humanitarian responses, yet 75% of all displaced populations are women and children, and an estimated 20 percent of women of reproductive age in a refugee population will be pregnant at any one time.

Senator Anne McEwen from the PGPD recently participated in a study tour to the Philippines to see SPRINT in action in the aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy, which devastated most of Luzon Island and caused massive floods in Manila in September 2009. This is what Senator McEwen had to say about the study tour -

During a crisis or in the aftermath of a natural disaster, women will still be pregnant, will still give birth and still have babies to nurse.  Our visit to the Philippines, where many areas are still recovering from devastating floods and landslides, reinforced how important programs such as the AusAID funded SPRINT program are for women in situations of crisis or post-crisis.  With the assistance of the Family Planning Organisation of the Philippines (FPOP) and local government authorities, Jane Singleton and I visited many women in evacuation centres or emergency  accommodation. We also met with many local health care workers and FPOP staff and volunteers who are striving to provide sexual and reproductive health services for women and their families. It was an invaluable opportunity to really understand the importance of sexual and reproductive health services  for women in crisis and to begin to comprehend the difficulties in providing those services adequately, whether women are in crisis or not.


Jane Singleton distributing MISP kits to pregnant women in Laguna

PGPD Secretariat Chair Jane Singleton AM also travelled to the Philippines and this is what she had to say after two days on the tour

Yesterday we went to visit families who live in a drainage pipe at the coast, they had great difficulties with the influx of water with the typhoon. We had to crawl in and meet a couple of families, one woman with five children. She could not stand up. In another place we distributed the first of the MISP (Minimum Initial Service Package for Reproductive Health in Crisis), which are in effect safe birthing kits in the flooded areas. There were 125 pregnant women - some of them looked 13 or 14 years old. Who knows how they manage in those circumstances but at least there is a chance of them having the babies safely… And in Mindanao it is very dangerous but the need is great. Displaced persons camps, violence, rape and of course child birth and the situation just drags on and on...

Click here to read more about SPRINT

PGPD at international meetings

2009 is the 15th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). In this important year, PGPD members have been active in attending many international meetings on population and development:



Mr Oakeshott making a commitment to youth at the Youth Commitment Desk, Beijing



Senator Furner speaking at a plenary session on Sexual and Reproductive Health and the Global Financial Crisis, Beijing

PGPD member part of international delegation to Vietnam

The Hon. John Pandazopoulos MP (Victorian State Parliament, ALP) attended the GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations) Partners Forum and Study Tour to Vietnam, 15-20 November 2009. GAVI's mission is to save children's lives and protect people's health by increasing access to immunisation in poor countries. The visit was arranged by the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development and attended by parliamentarians from Belgium, Spain, Finland, Switzerland, France, Norway and New Zealand.


Mr Pandazopoulos and Ms Lynne Pillay MP from New Zealand in a health clnic in Phu Tho province

PGPD Funding

The work of the PGPD is funded by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), via the Australian Reproductive Health Alliance (ARHA) which provides the secretariat for the PGPD. The PGPD and ARHA are extremely grateful to UNFPA for its support over many years. However, securing continuing funding for ARHA remains a challenge.

ARHA’s board has made the difficult decision that without additional core funding, ARHA must plan to cease operations by September 2010, after completing its project obligations. This will be a great loss to the sexual and reproductive health sector in Australia and the region, and as a result could create some difficulties for the PGPD without ARHA as the secretariat. But ARHA will continue to seek funding over the coming months.

If members would like to discuss this situation further, please contact the PGPD Secretariat Chair Jane Singleton by email or phone 02 6249 6566.

Recommended reading

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn is a must-read for those committed to women's empowerment and ending inequailty. Click here for the NY Times review click and for more information on the book visit.

  • PGPD member Mr Kelvin Thomson MP recommended the following article for PGPD members' interest - Population growth in retrospect and prospect published by Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, October 2009

  • The story of PGPD members Senator Claire Moore, Senator Judith Troeth and former Senator Lyn Allison working together with Senator Fiona Nash to win the approval of RU486 is detailed in a new article by Sara Dowse - A different kind of politics, Inside Story, 17 December 2009

For more sexual and reproductive health news click here

Adding it up

If the world doubled its investment in family planning and maternal health care, maternal and infant deaths could be reduced significantly, according to a new report by the Guttmacher Institute and UNFPA - Adding It Up: The Costs and Benefits of Investing in Family Planning and Maternal and Newborn Health.

PGPD Website

The PGPD website www.pgpd.asn.au contains information on members, PGPD's activities, reports and photos from conferences and meetings, speeches by members and resources on current population and development issues. A membership brochure for parliamentarians interested in joining PGPD can also be downloaded.

PGPD Secretariat

The Australian Reproductive Health Alliance provides the secretariat to the PGPD.

Contact
Jane Singleton - Secretariat Chair
Alice Ruxton - Parliamentary and Communications Officer
02 6249 6566 or email
PO Box 41 Deakin West ACT 2600

Season's Greetings and see you in 2010!

Update on the establishment of Parliamentary Groups on Population and Development in PNG and Timor-Leste

Members of the Papua New Guinea PGPD participated in a media and advocacy training workshop on Loloata Island, just outside of Port Moresby, on 28-29 November 2009. The workshop was facilitated by the Australian Reproductive Health Alliance (ARHA) and was supported by UNFPA PNG.



Sue Ahearn instructing participants on TV interviews

Participants were instructed on strategies for effectively using the media to deliver messages of population and development and sexual and reproductive health to their colleagues and to their communities.


Ruby Zarriga, Deputy Secretary Policy, National Planning and Monitoring Department being interviewed by Chris Greene

Hon. Francis Marus MP, Deputy Speaker being interviewed by Jane Singleton

ARHA has funding from UNFPA to establish Parliamentary Groups in PNG and Timor-Leste.

Work is also continuing to establish a PGPD in Timor-Leste, where there is a great need for sharing of information on population and development, and sexual and reproductive health. ARHA conducted a scoping visit to Dili in August 2009, and plans to return in early 2010 to work with parliamentarians to form a Group.


Children in a village outside of Dili.

State of World Population 2009 - Facing a changing world: women, population and climate

The PGPD launched the UNFPA State of World Population Report 2009 on 18 November at Parliament House, Canberra. Senator Claire Moore, Chair of the PGPD hosted the event, and the Hon. Bob McMullan MP, Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance launched the report with Mr Najib Assifi, Deputy Director of the UNFPA Asia Pacific Regional Office.

To read the report online click here

Australian media coverage of the report -

Radio Australia

AAP

Sydney Morning Herald

Male parliamentarians unite to end violence against women

The Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD) and UNFPA have joined forces in an initiative to engage male parliamentarians from the region in the prevention of violence against women and girls.

A meeting was held in Bangkok in September 2009, which saw the formation of the Asia-Pacific Standing Committee of Male Parliamentarians on Prevention of Violence against Women and Girls. This high-level committee, chaired by the Hon. Sir Dr. Puka Temu MP, Deputy Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, is an integral component of a regional programme to involve men in violence prevention initiated by AFPPD in cooperation with UNFPA, and supported by the Government of Japan.


Members of the inaugural male parliamentarians committee on ending violence against women

Mr Robert Oakeshott MP from the PGPD is an inaugural member of the committee, and PGPD member the Hon. Penny Sharpe MLC from the NSW Parliament also attended the meeting to represent the AFPPD Standing Committee on Women.

Jacqui Brandman, an ANIP intern with PGPD Chair Senator Claire Moore worked with Mr Oakeshott and the Australian Reproductive Health Alliance to develop a Framework for Action for the Male Parliamentarians Committee, which Mr Oakeshott presented at a meeting of the committee in Beijing in October 2009.


Jacquie Brandman, PGPD intern

Mr Oakeshott has continued his role with the committee by speaking at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community's Regional Rights Resource Team Consultation for Regional Members of Parliament on Advancing Legislative Change on Violence Against Women and Other Human Rights Issues in Brisbane in early December where he challenged male parliamentarians in the Pacific to play a crucial role and be involved in advocacy activities to fight violence against women. For more information click here

Mr Oakeshott who is also a White Ribbon Ambassador, issued a call to action to fellow Australian parliamentarians to take action for the 16 Days of Activism to end gender-based violence. Mr Oakeshott called violence prevention “integral to our national interests.” On 25 November, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, he put a notice of motion to the House of Representatives, which highlighted the role of the AFPPD Standing Committee.

Visit of UNFPA Executive Director

Thoraya Obaid, UNFPA Executive Director visited Australia recently. She met with PGPD Chair Senator Claire Moore in Canberra on 3 December 2009. Ms Obaid commended the work of the PGPD in Australia, the work to establish Groups in PNG and Timor-Leste and the SPRINT Initiative. UNFPA funds the work of the PGPD.

The Australian Government also announced the signing of a new partnership agreement with UNFPA, providing $42.5 million over four years, including funds to support programs in the Pacific. For more information click here

Ms Obaid also attended the Asia Pacific Breakthrough: the Women, Faith and Development Summit to End Global Poverty, in Melbourne. At the conference Ms Obaid said - "It would cost the world less than two-and-a-half-day's worth of military spending to save the lives of 6 million mothers, newborns and children every year. ...we will not achieve the Millennium Development Goals unless reproductive health and the rights of women and children are made a priority."

Upcoming international meetings and events on population and development issues

* 2010 NGO Global Forum for Women: Beijing +15, 27-28 February 2010

* Commission on the Status of Women and the 15 year review of the Beijing Platform for Action, 1-12 March 2010

* 100th anniversary of the International Women's Day, 8 March 2010

International Parliamentary Groups on Population and Development

Similar parliamentary groups to the PGPD exist in countries all over the world. Links to some of these can be found below.

NZPPD – New Zealand Parliamentarians’ Group on Population and Development

APPG UK – The UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health

AFPPD – Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development

IEPFPD – The Inter European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development

IAPG - The Inter-American Parliamentary Group on Population and Development

FAAPPD - Forum of African and Arab Parliamentarians on Population and Development

 

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