July 2010
APA UPDATE #12 July 2011
E-NEWS AND INFORMATION ON SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND RIGHTS
FROM THE SECRETARIAT
Regional Consultation on Sexuality Education and Gender
APA Secretariat attended the Regional Consultation on Sexuality Education and Gender in Bangkok from July 18-21, a joint effort of UNFPA, UNICEF and UNESCO. The consultation bought together nearly 100 participants from 20 countries in Asia-Pacific and beyond to explore what is known about the most effective approaches to comprehensive sexuality education for young people, and to overcoming programming barriers to reaching adolescent girls. APA will also use this meeting to scale up its resources on Sexuality Education. Access the “School-based Sexuality Education Programmes a Cost and Cost Effectiveness Analysis in Six Countries” here. More resources will be available soon.
“Like” APA on Facebook!
APA has created a new Facebook page. You can access the page and “like” APA here. Watch for news on APA events and new developments in SRHR field. You can also “like” APA by clicking on the icon at the bottom right side of APA's homepage.
MEMBER NEWS
New Zealand MP Jackie Blue Speaks out on Family Planning in the Solomon Islands
New Zealand parliamentarian Dr. Jackie Blue was interviewed by Radio NZ following a study tour for parliamentarians, media personnel and NGO representatives in order to better understand the sexual and reproductive health and rights challenges in the Solomon Islands. The tour was organized by Family Planning International and funded through the APA Advocacy Grant Program. Access the interview here.
MSI Speaking on Australia Overseas Needs and Challenges in the Field
Liz Sime, Regional Director at Marie Stopes International Australia Marie Stopes International Australia will speak on “Australia Overseas Needs and Challenges in the Field” at roundtable on Population Pressures being held on July 27 in Sydney, Australia, organized by Women’s Plans Foundation. Experts from diverse fields will trace the causal links between world population size, its impacts on climate change, women's education and access to family planning. For more information contact Alice Oppen at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Access more resources on the Environment and SRHR here.
Burnet Institute Supports Australia’s Aid Program - Review and Increase
Burnet Institute Director and CEO, Professor Brendan Crabb welcomed the Australian Government’s commitment to strengthen and focus its aid efforts on the Asia-Pacific region, with Indonesia and Papua New Guinea remaining the largest programs. Australia is to increase aid to South Asia and Africa following recommendations in the first review of the country's aid policies in 15 years. Read more here.
NEWS, RESOURCES and OPPORTUNITIES
Side Event at UN High Level Meeting on Youth
For any who are attending the HLM on Youth at the UN in New York,USA, please join the Youth Coalition, Advocates for Youth, IPPF, YouAct and UNFPA for the side event, “Realizing Universal Access: Young People are the Key to MDG5b.” The event will take place Tuesday, July 26th from 6:15pm to 7:45pm in Conference Room 5, NLB.
IPPF Launches New Resource to Monitor World Bank RH Action Plan
IPPF has produced a new resource, “The scorecard”, for monitoring and evaluating implementation of the World Bank’s Reproductive Health Action Plan 2010–2015. It is aimed at working constructively with the Bank and to support sexual and reproductive health, and to ensure that SRH is mainstreamed in policy, programming and lending. Read more here.
Guidelines on “Female Contraceptive Sterilization”
New guidelines on “Female Contraceptive Sterilization” were issued last week by the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO). These guidelines recognize the long history of forced and coerced sterilization of marginalized women and take a critical step to ending this human rights abuse by providing detailed recommendations for when and how consent to sterilization can be obtained. Access the guidelines here.
MDG Report 2011 Released
The Millennium Development Goals Report 2011 was launched in Geneva by the Secretary-General on 7 July. Although significant strides have been made, reaching all the MDGs by 2015 remains challenging because progress has failed to reach the most vulnerable. Findings include that while the demand for family planning will likely increase in line with rising numbers of women and men of reproductive age, funding for such programmes has actually declined over the past decade, to 2.6 percent of total aid for health in 2009.