20th International Inter-Ministerial Conference on South-South and Triangular Cooperation in Population and Development Kicks Off In Victoria Falls

The 20th International Inter-Ministerial Conference on South-South and Triangular Cooperation in Population and Development commenced today in the resort town of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

By Michael Gwarisa

Officiating at the event, Zimbabwe’s President Emerson Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe was making progress towards meeting commitments made at the ICPD 25 in Nairobi Kenya.

It is notable that females have a higher life expectancy compared to their male counterparts, while life expectancy has risen to 65 years.  Zimbabwe’s national Maternal Mortality Ratio is on a decreasing trend, from 651 per 100 000 live births in 2015, to 362 per 100,000 live births, in 2022,” said President Mnangagwa. 

He added that the multi-pronged and people-centered national development agenda has registered progress on the social development front. Consequently, Zimbabwe has improved in the Human Development Index rankings.

“My Administration is scaling up the implementation and promotion of sustainable economic growth, employment and wealth creation towards accelerating national development, modernisation and industrialisation. We are determined, to lift many more of our people out poverty into a higher quality of life.”

On gender equality and women empowerment, he said Zimbabwe was dedicated to achievement of gender equality and empowerment of women.

“The National Constitution of Zimbabwe specifically prohibits discrimination based on gender and outlaws all forms of Gender Based Violence. My Government has made bold decisions to ensure the inclusion of women in Parliament, Cabinet, local authorities as well as other decision making entities across national institutions. The Constitutionally established Gender Comission is entrusted with monitoring the effective implementation of gender-responsive laws and policies.”

In 2019, 173 UN member states and governments represented in the Nairobi ICPD@25 Summit, including 27 PPD member states. They made national commitments in five areas namely: (1) universal access to sexual and reproductive health; (2) financial resources to finish the ICPD Program of Action; (3) demographic diversity to drive economic growth and achieve sustainable development; (4) gender-based violence and the harmful practices of child, early and forced marriages including female genital mutilation; and (5) right to sexual and reproductive health in humanitarian and fragile settings.

United Nations Population Fund East and Southern Africa (UNFPA ESARO) Regional Director, Ms Lydia Zigomo said the Nairobi Summit Outcomes provided a global framework for the formulation of policies by the governments.

“It urged all stakeholders who made concrete commitments to ensure the full, effective and accelerated implementation of the ICPD Program of Action and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. They were strongly encouraged to report periodically on the progress towards fulfilling these commitments through transparent means and in appropriate public fora,” said Ms Zigomo.

“As the world approaches the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action (PoA), ICPD@30, the United Nations plan to lead its global observance at the 57th Session of the Commission on Population and Development (CPD) meeting at the UN Headquarters in April 2024. Leading up to ICPD@30, there are a series of national and regional consultations planned with a hope to galvanize a strengthened support to further the achievement of the ICPD PoA, despite emerging challenges that threaten to derail progress and sideline the centrality of sexual and reproductive health, and gender equality in development.

Meanwhile, Health and Child Care Minister, Dr Douglas Mombeshora said, “Government of Zimbabwe, through the Ministry of Health and Child Care, has long been committed to providing and continuously improving access to quality integrated family planning and sexual reproductive health services.”

“Just to mention a few of the actions we implored as a government, these among others include the; Enactment of the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Act of 1985, Establishment of the Zimbabwe National Family Council (ZNFPC) which is an agency responsible for coordinating and taking leadership in the provision of FP/SRH services and establishment of FP and SRH forums and the ICPD National Taskforce being coordinated by the agency ZNFPC clearly shows how the government prioritise reproductive health issues and in particular FP/SRH services as part of Primary Health Care.”

He added that the South-South Cooperation promotes sharing of good practices and experiences and supports member states to realize their national aspirations and development goals in reproductive health, population and development. For example, Member states and Zimbabwe is not an exceptional, have benefited from PPD scholarship program offered with support from Egypt, India and South Africa contributing towards development of human resource base through capacity development, leadership and service delivery in Reproductive Health, Population and Development.

 

 

 

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