 Homepage
EPF believes that parliamentarians have a duty and a responsibility to promote and defend the sexual and reproductive health and rights of all individuals, including their right to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children ; to defend and advance gender equality, gender equity and women’s empowerment; and to eliminate all forms of discrimination, coercion and violence against women. The ICPD Programme of Action and the Key Actions of its five-year review are essential in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
22-23 June 2009 - G8 Parliamentary Conference "Strategic Investmens in Times of Crisis - The rewards of Making Women's Health a Priority".
 Two weeks before the G8 Summit in L’ Aquila, Italy, more than 100 Parliamentarians, representatives and experts of International Organisations and civil society organisation gathered for the fifth annual G8 Parliamentarians’ Conference, held in Rome, Italy from 22-23 June 2009. This year the participants from the G8-countries, as well as from Africa and Asia, focused their discussions on “Strategic Investments in Times of Crisis – The Rewards of Making Women’s Health a Priority”.
This conference stands in the tradition of four respective Parliamentary Conferences in conjunction with the G8 Presidency of the UK (2005), Russia (2006), Germany (2007) and Japan (2008). It was kindly hosted by the Italian Parliamentary Working Group on Global Health and Women’s Rights and organised by GCAP Italy, Action Aid, the Italian Association for Women in Development (AIDOS), the German Foundation for World Population (DSW) and the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (EPF) in co-operation with Action Canada for Population and Development (ACPD), the Asia Population and Development Association (APDA) and Interact Worldwide. The Conference provided a unique opportunity for the Parliamentarians present to interact and strategise on meeting G8 commitments with fellow devoted Parliamentarians from around the world, as well as Government representatives and international organisations such as UNFPA, WHO, IPPF, Population Council and the International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC).
Read more:
Final Appeal:
EN FR
Programme
Powerpoint Presentations:
Session1: Guglielmo Riva
Session 2:Dr Joerg F. Maas, Hon. Lydia Wanyoto, MP, Dr Heli Bathija
Session 3:Dr Judith Bruce, Pru Smith
Session 4:Dr Françoise Ndayishimiye, Hon. George Tsereteli, MP
Rapporteurs
7 June 2009 - Elections European Parliament
The European Parliament elections which have just taken place signal a set of new dynamics between political parties in the European Union and reveal many important lessons which we as advocates for the ICPD agenda and more broadly for global health and women's rights would be wise to take note of. At a practical level, the new composition of the European Parliament will have a significant impact on how SRHR are handled at EU level, requiring building a new set of alliances across political parties.
For more information on Several major trends, Impact in the European Parliament and Loss of the traditional "pro-SRHR" base
click here
5 April 2009 - World Malaria Day
Despite being preventable and treatable, malaria causes more than 1 million deaths and app. 500 million cases a year. The disease primarily affects children under five and pregnant women in Africa, and vulnerable groups such as ethnic minorities, the poor and mobile populations in Asia. Malaria affects 40 percent of the world’s population – putting 3.2 billion people at risk in 107 countries.”
25 April is a day of unified commemoration of the global effort to provide effective control of malaria around the world. This year's World Malaria Day marks a critical moment in time. The international malaria community has merely two years to meet the 2010 targets of delivering effective and affordable protection and treatment to all people at risk of malaria, as called for by the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon.
World Malaria Day represents a chance for all of us to make a difference. Reducing the impact of malaria would significantly propel efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. These include not only the goal of combating the disease itself, but also goals related to women's and children's rights and health, access to education and the reduction of extreme poverty.
EPF’s Malaria Taskforce members are mobilised for Counting Malaria Out!
For more information about World Malaria Day or EPF’s Malaria Taskforce, please click here
28 March - 04 April 2009 European Parliamentary Study Tour to Cameroon with focus on Malaria
As a member of the European Alliance Against Malaria (EAMM), EPF organised a week-long study tour to Cameroon held from 28 March - 04 April 2009 that focused on following-up the country's efforts at combating malaria. The study tour was hosted by the Cameroon Coalition Against Malaria (CCAM), the Cameroon Affiliate of Malaria Consortium based in the UK which works at reducing deaths and suffering due to malaria in Cameroon by increasing mobilisation efforts to secure a comprehensive and sustained response to malaria. The study tour offered a deep insight into malaria burden, and enabled the Delegation to assess the progress, the needs and remaining challenges in the fight against malaria. The study tour provided an invaluable experience on the new methods and strategies in place to tackle the disease and enabled participating Parliamentarians to gain first-hand experience of the reality of teh situation in a developing country. The members of EPF Delegation included Hon. Katia Della Faille, MP member of the Belgian Foreign Affairs and Public Health Committees (Liberal Party), EPF’s Malaria Taskforce member Hon. Maria Rosa Fortuny i Torroella, MP Catalan spokesperson for the Committee of Foreign and European Affairs (Liberal), EPF’s malaria Taskforce member Hon. Heli Järvinen, MP member of the Finnish All-Party Parliamentary Group on Population and Development (Green Party), Hon. Fazil Mustafayev, MP member of the Azerbaijani All-Party Parliamentary Group “Future Generation” (Liberal Party), as well as Hon. Serban Radulescu, MP member of the Romanian Sub-Committee on Demography, Population and Development (Democratic-Liberal Party).
Read More...
23-24 March 2009: High Level Conference on: "Climate and People: To what extent are climate change and population dynamics interrelated and what can European policy makers do about this?” Oslo - Norway
From 23-24 March 2009, more than 60 Members of Parliament across Europe and Asia, representatives from International Organisations such as UNFPA, and researchers on SRHR gathered in Oslo/Norway to discuss: To what extent are climate change and population dynamics interrelated and what can European policy makers do about this?
The conference was organised in the framework of Countdown 2015 Europe, by the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (EPF), the Norwegian All-Party Parliamentary Group: Norsk forening for seksualitet, samliv og reproduktiv helse and the Norwegian Association for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (NSRR). The 2-day conference generated an understanding of the need to include health issues and family planning in the discussion about climate change, in order to reach the Millennium Development Goals.
The links between population and climate change are complex and varied. While looking at the production of carbon dioxide and population growth in the countries, it is apparent that the wealthiest countries have the slowest population growth but the highest emissions of carbon dioxide. Conversely, the developing countries with a rapid population growth have the lowest emission in carbon dioxide. However, in the long run slowing down population growth will also have an impact. Large and poor families put pressure on the environment with an increasing need for fuel such as wood, and also water and other basic needs. Unintended pregnancies is the factor in population growth most open to programme and policy interventions. Preventing unwanted pregnancies through voluntary family planning and guaranteeing people’s right to reproductive health supplies can help slow population growth and moderate its environmental impact.
Members of Parliament from Laos (Hon. Phommasack Ty) and Iran (Hon. Ahmad-Ali Keikhah) shared their experience of dealing with the effects of climate change in their respective countries, making the link between the increasing demand for water and population growth and the need for Reproductive Health Supplies and Family planning in order to tackle the increasing impact of climate change in certain regions of the world. Members of Parliament from Bulgaria (Hon. Latchezar Toshev) and Switzerland (Hon. Yvonne Gilli) shared best practices in tackling the unmet need for family planning, strengthen health systems and integrate population factors into their strategies on the environment and climate change.
 Euromapping 2008: Europe cuts family planning aid for poor countries
The EuroMapping project gathers information on Official Development Assistance funding levels related to the Programme of Action resulting from the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) 1994 in Cairo. The project looks at what lies behind the rhetoric and compares the pledges and commitments made by European countries and the European Union with their actual contributions to sexual and reproductive health. As a result, the research provides NGOs with a strong advocacy tool to hold all European governments to account and urge them to honour their promises related to public spending.
Read more...
Press Release
Euromapping 2008
|
Conferences
Resource Mobilisation
