'Africa needs to unite, invest in young people'

Twenty-five years ago, world leaders gathered in Cairo, Egypt and committed to reducing preventable maternal deaths, respecting sexual and reproductive health and rights of women, ending gender-based violence and harmful practices such as child marriage and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

This was during the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) where leaders articulated a bold vision regarding the relationships between population, development and individual well-being.

The ICDP Programme of Action, adopted by 179 governments, recognised that reproductive health, as well as women's empowerment and gender equality, are the pathway to sustainable development.

Ethiopia's president Sahle-Work Zewde, says ICDP changed how population issues were perceived and set the stage to involve everyone.

"Instead of a focus on reaching population targets, it shifted the focus on people; how to empower women and make an investment in peoples' individual rights, choices and well-being," Zewde says.

She said this during the African continental commemoration of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) 50th and ICPD 25th anniversary held in Addis Ababa, on Wednesday.

Zewde notes that women representation in Ethiopia and across Africa has increased and more women are empowered, and a lot of focus is now on the young people and the elderly than ever before.

"Women participation in leadership has improved, we now have a gender equally cabinet and many women have gotten into leadership positions. We pledge to invest more in young people to help them realize their potential," Zewde says.

She challenged fellow leaders to forge partnerships and unite in order to reenergize the efforts towards implementation of ICDP.

The UNFPA executive director Natalia Kanem, says over the past decades, UNFPA has been guided by the unwavering belief that people must be at the heart of development and today people-centred development is the cornerstone of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

"Women's empowerment and development and investing in the youth to harness the demographic dividend have taken centre stage in African policymaking. This speaks the importance that African heads of state place on these issues in building a prosperous Africa positions to deliver the promise of ICDP," Kanem says.

Progress over the last 25 years

Kanem commended African leaders for the efforts towards implementation of the program of action of ICPD by putting in place good policies.

"In the areas where it matters most, we continue to see progress. For the first time ever nearly 700 million women in developing countries now use modern contraceptives. At the same time, we have made steady progress towards reducing maternal mortality," Kanem says.

Also, progress has been made in reducing harmful practices such as child marriage and female genital mutilation that violates the human rights of women and girls.

Preventable maternal deaths have seen a sharp decline of 40%, whereas a woman's chance of dying due to pregnancy or child birth has reduced from.

Skilled birth attendance across the continent has increased from 40% in 1994 to over 60% today. In countries like Uganda, it stands at over 70%.

Despite this steady progress, Kanem acknowledges that the promise of ICPD remains to be fulfilled for millions of the African continent.

"Africa is unlikely to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health services, as long as one in five women do not go have their family planning needs to be met, as long as one in three women are still being married off by age 18 and as long as one in six young women age 20 to 24 continue to experience gender-based violence," Kaneem says

She urged leaders to double efforts in order to reduce these trends.

Going forward Kaneem says UNFPA is working towards three life changing goals; zero unmet family planning, zero preventable maternal deaths and zero violence and harmful practices against women and girls, including an end to child marriage and female genital mutilation.

The Commissioner of Social Affairs at the African Union, Amira El Fadil called for unity in the implementation of ICDP agenda in order to deliver the promise faster.

"Ensuring accessibility of sexual reproductive health services to adolescents prevent girls from dropping out of school and fosters development," El Fadil says.

She says AU has launched a campaign to end harmful practices like child marriage and FGM which should be everyone business.

"Child marriage hinders the development of girls, it kills their future and the future of the country," El Fadil says.

This year in November, UNFPA together with the Kenya government have organized the The Nairobi Summit on ICPD25: Accelerating the promise to offer an inclusive platform, bringing together governments, UN agencies, civil society, private sector organizations, women's groups and youth networks to discuss and agree on actions to accelerate the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action.