Countdown 2015 Europe
Sexual and reproductive health is essential to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Within this ensuring that all people everywhere have access to reproductive health supplies is central.
Interact Worldwide has joined Countdown 2015 Europe, a group of 18 leading European NGOs experienced in advocacy for reproductive health. We work in 15 European countries to achieve increased support from European donors for Reproductive Health Supplies (RHS). We also aim to improve European coordination and coherence to narrow the gaps between the needs, demand and availability of supplies.
Building greater political and financial commitment in Europe is key to securing universal access to reproductive health as an essential step toward achieving the MDGs. We want European donors to increase their commitment to RHS and take a lead on ensuring universal access to RHS is achieved.
What are Reproductive Health Supplies?
Reproductive health supplies (RHS) are not just condoms and other contraceptives.
According to UNFPA, they refer to ‘all the essential equipment, commodities and medicines required for sexual and reproductive health, maternal and neonatal health and for effective responses to HIV and AIDS'.
Why do we need to increase funding?
350 million women worldwide lack access to reproductive health supplies and every minute a women dies of pregnancy related causes, often due to lack of supplies. Globally 137 million women cannot access the contraception they want. Almost two thirds of women in Sub-Saharan Africa do not use modern contraception and almost half are using no family planning.
There is currently an enormous gap between the demand for RHS and their supply, due to rising demand and falling support.
- There are now more people of reproductive age - current 15-25 year olds are the largest ever generation of young people.
- Growing demand - use of RHS is expected to increase 40% by 2015 due to population growth and the success of family planning programmes.
- Increased transmission of HIV - 75% of all infections are through sexual transmission, making condoms essential for HIV prevention.
For more information on Countdown 2015 Europe in the UK please email Fionnuala Murphy on murphyf@interactworldwide.org or download the brochure.
RECENT ACTIVITIES
Getting Reproductive Health onto the Italian G8 agenda
Alongside lobbying in the UK, Interact Worldwide was one of the collaborating partners at the G8 International Parliamentarians’ Conference in Rome on 22 and 23 of June. We hosted the first of these conferences in 2005 to coincide with the Gleneagles G8 summit. This year the meeting was attended by more than 60 parliamentarians from G8 countries, Asia and Africa.
We also published a briefing entitled ‘Reproductive Health and the G8: Now more than ever’, calling on the G8 to take the following steps:
- Reaffirm their support for MDG5 target b (universal access to reproductive health by 2015).
- Participate fully in the upcoming ICPD Meeting in September in order to support the achievement of this target.
- Ensure that investments in health systems deliver results on reproductive health.
- Recognise the importance of reproductive health supplies which can be initiated by women (e.g. female condoms and microbicides) and pledge to increase their availability.
On July 9, the G8 released their communique entitled ‘Responsible leadership for a sustainable future’. The section on Development and Africa pledges to accelerate progress on maternal health, including through sexual and reproductive health care and services and voluntary family planning. The G8 also expressed their support for building a new global consensus on maternal, newborn and child health and the removal of user fees for health services for all women and children.
Lobbying around the DFID White Paper
Earlier this year, DFID launched a public consultation to look at what their new White Paper on International Development should include. Interact Worldwide led the UK SRHR Network in making a submission as part of this consultation, arguing that sexual and reproductive health and rights should be at the heart of the UK government’s international development efforts.
On July 6, Secretary of State for International Development Douglas Alexander launched this new White Paper, which contains some important commitments including:
- A pledge to help save the lives of six million mothers and newborns through a new international consensus on maternal and newborn health by 2015.
- A commitment to ensure that 240 million more births take place in safe facilities, to increase contraceptive prevalence by one third by 2015 and to employ over 1 million more health workers.
- A promise to triple funds for helping to protect women, men and children from violence and ensure survivors of violence have access (funding to increase to £120million by 2014).
Building advocacy capacity in a changing global health policy environment
On 8 and 9 June, Interact Worldwide hosted a capacity building session for members of Countdown 2015 Europe, looking at the impact of donor focus on enhancing health systems strengthening on advocacy around sexual and reproductive health and rights including reproductive health supplies.
Participants heard presentations on the impact of the financial crisis, the changing aid world, budget support, donor coordination initiatives including the IHP+ and global health initiatives including the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and innovative financing mechanisms such as UNITAID. After each session, discussion took place and the group was urged to reflect on how what they’d heard would impact on work in their national context and on the network’s cross- European advocacy. At the end of the meeting, participants shared these reflections and agreed actions to be taken and information gaps to follow up.
On 4 and 5 of June, Interact Worldwide staff attended the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition (RHSC) meeting in London. The meeting had 130 participants – the largest number yet – with a significant number from the global south. Key themes included the implications of the global economic downturn and political changes in the US; the emergence of new strategic partnerships at country level and ways to ensure access to reproductive health supplies in the context of the changing aid world.
The membership meeting was preceded by a meeting of the Resource Mobilisation and Awareness Working Group of the Coalition on 3 June. Interact Worldwide staff had the opportunity to hear about the work of advocates in other countries and to look at ways to strengthen advocacy at country level in order to ensure access to reproductive health supplies.
RESOURCES
Briefing Papers
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SUPPLIES - THE FACTS
ACHIEVING UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH - Read the recommendations of Countdown 2015 Europe on how the UK could play its part in acheiving universal access to reproductive health.
FINANCING UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH - Read the UK brief laying out the estimates of UK fair share to acheive universal access to reproductive health.
AID EFFECTIVENESS AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH - Read the UK brief outlining our recommendations on how aid effectiveness can be effective for reproductive health.
Reports
FUNDING FOR REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SUPPLIES - Read 'Funding for Reproductive Health Supplies: An Analysis of Official Development Assistance from European Donors'. This report identifies available funding from all European governments and the European Commission for sexual and reproductive health as well as reproductive health supplies. For the UK we find that it is very difficult to identify dedicated funding for reproductive health supplies.
OPTIONS TO INCREASE INVESTMENT - Read the second edition of the inception report of Countdown 2015 Europe that lays out the current estimates for ensuring universal access to reproductive health supplies as well as updates on the availability of funding for SRH through the Global Fund and the International Health Partnership
