Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) (Photo: UNFPA Vietnam)Hanoi (VNA) – Executive
Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Dr. Natalia Kanem has
written an article on the occasion of the World Health Day (April 7), in which she
calls for joint efforts in upholding the right of all people to reach the
highest possible standard of health.
The following is the full text of the
article.
“Every two minutes, a woman dies giving
birth. As the clock counts down another year, 287,000 more women will meet the
same tragic fate.
Most of these deaths are preventable.
They are not inevitable. They happen because health-care systems routinely fail
women and girls.
Women die giving birth because, for too
many, health services are unavailable, inaccessible, unaffordable or offer poor
quality care.
Illustrative image (Source: UNFPA Vietnam)Women seeking contraception face similar
barriers. An estimated 257 million women who want to avoid pregnancy are not
using safe and modern methods to do so.
This yearโs World Health Day is a moment
to join the global call of โhealth for allโ.
For decades, health care systems around
the world have made progress in improving the reach and quality of sexual and
reproductive health care. UNFPA has supported that effort. The contraceptives
UNFPA procured in 2021 alone helped to prevent 39,000 maternal deaths โ
contributing to a long and steady decline in the global number of women dying
in childbirth.
Today, alarmingly, we see that global
progress has stalled. In some places, maternal death rates are even increasing.
One reason may be that, particularly
amid the COVID-19 pandemic, decisions were made to deprioritize and cut funds
for essential, life-saving sexual and reproductive .
Gender discrimination often drives such
decisions, treating the health and well-being of women and girls as less
important than other goals.
As part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, countries around the world have committed to achieving universal
health coverage and universal access to sexual and reproductive health.
Even so, in most countries, universal
health coverage benefits packages exclude many essential sexual and
reproductive health interventions, including measures related to reproductive
cancers and gender-based violence prevention and response.
Around the world, is supporting
health systems to provide quality sexual and reproductive health services that
reach every person and accommodate diverse population groups, including people
with disabilities.
Investing in sexual and reproductive
health is an essential investment in sustainable development and in delivering
a world where every woman, girl and young person can live up to their full
potential.
Such investments not only save and
improve lives, they generate economic gains too: By UNFPAโs calculation,
investing a single dollar in ending preventable maternal deaths and the unmet
need for family planning by 2030 can yield economic benefits of up to $8.40 by
2050.
On this , let us uphold
the right of all people to reach the highest possible standard of health. Let
us join forces to expand access to sexual and reproductive health, with rights
and choices as the path to a more equal, prosperous and sustainable future.”/.
Source: VietnamPlus
