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UNFPA Global Population Policy Update
Tokyo G8 Parliamentary Statement of Commitment
ISSUE 81 - 11 July 2008
On 2-3 July 2008, parliamentarians from 27 countries (G8 countries, Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America) attended the "G8 International Parliamentarians' Conference on Population and Sustainable Development- Global Health, Climate Change and Food Security," held in Tokyo, Japan. The conference was hosted by the Japan Parliamentarians Federation for Population (JPFP) and organized by the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA), in collaboration with the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD). The conference was opened by Mr. Yasuo Fukuda, the Prime Minister of Japan.
The over 110 participants in attendance held discussions at length on recommendations that were presented to the G8 Summit, held on 7-9 July, in Toyako Hokkaid, Japan, whose focus was world economy, environment and climate change as well as development and Africa.
In the statement, participants called on the G8 heads of state and government to commit to achieving the MDG 5 target of universal access to reproductive health by 2015, integrate population factors into strategies on environment and climate change, and use maternal mortality, morbidity and infant mortality as indicators for health system performance.
At the G8 summit, the world leaders for the first time included references to maternal, newborn and child health in their communiquÃ©. In the section on development in Africa, the G8 leaders said: "We note that in some developing countries, achieving the MDGs on child mortality and maternal health is seriously off-track, and therefore, in country-led plans, the continuum of prevention and care, including nutrition should include a greater focus on maternal, newborn and child health.
"Reproductive health should be made widely accessible," the statement continued. "The G-8 will take concrete steps to work toward improving the link between HIV/AIDS activities and sexual and reproductive health and voluntary family planning programmes, to improve access to health care, including preventing mother-to-child transmission, and to achieve the MDGs by adopting a multisectoral approach and by fostering community involvement and participation."
G8 International Parliamentarians' Conference on Population and Sustainable Development
Statement on Global Health, Climate Change & Food Security
Tokyo, Japan 3 July 2008
We, the Parliamentarians from 27 countries gathered in Tokyo, Japan from the 2nd to 3rd of July 2008, to discuss population and sustainable development issues, focusing on the interrelationship between climate change and population including reproductive health, primary health care, food security and newly and re-emerging infectious diseases. We reaffirm the 2007 Berlin Appeal and all previous statements at Parliamentarian meetings on population development.
We RECOGNIZE that:
- The involvement of civil society, and its partnership with parliamentarians, is essential to the achievement of the MDGs.
- The access to healthcare is a human right.
- The issues of global health, population dynamics, climate change and food security are interconnected and require a comprehensive response, including the achievement of the MDGs.
- Addressing population size, distribution and growth is very important for mitigating humanity's impact on the environment, including climate change.
- Addressing population development requires universal access to reproductive health, including family planning, the reduction of maternal and infant mortality, the reduction of early pregnancy, and the participation of both genders.
- Strengthening health systems is a priority for improving reproductive health specifically, maternal health family planning. This is also needed to produce effective responses to emergency situations arising from climate change which largely affects the poorest segment of the population, in particular, women and children.
- On present projections, global population will grow by 20%, to eight billion, by 2025. This will create unprecedented demands on global resources. Meeting this growing demand will require a sustained and long-term response at global and national levels.
- Poverty, malnutrition, malaria, TB, HIV, other infectious diseases, and a lack of clean water and sanitation are some of the most significant burdens in the context of sustainable development.
- Both men and women have the responsibility to improve reproductive health outcomes.
- There is a need to address unmet needs for reproductive health services, including family planning.
- Paying particular attention to the strengthening overall health systems, will make universal access to reproductive health, prevention of newly emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases at all levels and achievement of health MDGs possible, and to put in place adequate emergency response plans to address natural disasters due to climate change.
- There is the need to ensure equitable access to gender sensitive health care, including prevention of newly emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases at all levels.
- Smallholder farmers are important players in natural resource management and carbon sequestration and can have an important part in climate change mitigation strategies. The world's 450 million small farms feed their families that total about two billion people worldwide living in rural areas.
Call to Action to: G8 heads of state and government to act urgently to:
- Integrate population issues and poverty reduction strategies into all responses to address climate change.
- Recommit to: the objectives of universal access to HIV/AIDS-prevention, treatment and care by 2010 as promised in Gleneagles; revitalise the reproductive health and family planning agenda worldwide to achieve gender equality; reduce neonatal and maternal mortality and morbidity, including obstetric fistula and unsafe abortions.
- Commit to increasing investment in the development of new disease prevention technologies, such as microbicides and vaccines and the transferring of these technologies to the developing world.
- Ensure that developing countries have equal access to affordable essential medicines whether they are generic or patented.
- Provide adequate technical and financial support to strengthen primary health care systems including training and retaining health workers. This includes terminating the active recruitment of skilled health care workers from developing countries unless there is prior consent between the recipient and sending countries.
- Commit to achieving the MDG 5 target of universal access to reproductive health by 2015, through the provision of adequate technical and financial support to address unmet needs for reproductive health services and supplies, including family planning.
- Use maternal mortality, maternal morbidity, infant mortality, and life span as indicators for health system performance.
- Advance comprehensive cooperation in global health for the timely action to reduce the impact of newly emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases by establishing an early warning system and ensuring that all people have access to essential and affordable medical supplies.
- Support global research and development and public-private partnerships (PPPs), to address global health challenges such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected diseases.
- Support programmes which promote environmentally sustainable and healthy lifestyles.
- Invest in the world's 450 million small holder farms to enable them to increase production through improved access to essential inputs, such as agricultural tools, seeds and fertilizers, in order to respond to the global increase in demand for food and ensure that the investment in biofuels is not at the risk of increased competition for agricultural land, jeopardising food security.
- Engage the Parliaments of ODA recipient countries through requiring the disclosure of ODA conditionalities and details by recipient governments to their parliaments.
- ODA lender countries should reduce conditionalities consistent with the Paris Principles on ODA, particularly on conditionalities on consultancy, equipment and supply components in order for the recipient countries to maximize the utilization of the ODA.
- Agree on comprehensive funding and action plans with clear timetables on the commitment of eiligendam (2007) to fund $60 billion to address health related needs of developing countries, including support for health systems strengthening and efforts to fights AIDS, TB and malaria.
We call on Parliamentarians to ensure that legislation, policies and funding related to the above issues are clearly defined and enforced.
- Call upon both donor and recipient countries to have a shared responsibility for reaching the MDGs. Donor countries are also strongly requested to meet the ODA pledge of 0.7% of GNI. Recipient countries are particularly called upon to put in place measures that will ensure the transparent and effective use of development aid.
- To demand from the governments of developing countries embrace good governance, democracy and accountability to allow for the attainment of MDGs in their countries by 2015.
For further information and full statement by the G8 heads of State, visit: http://www.g8summit.go.jp/eng/doc/doc080709_09_en.html
All previous issues of the UNFPA Global Population Policy Update can now be found on UNFPA's website at:
This newsletter is issued by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in its capacity as the secretariat for the biennial International Parliamentarians' Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action (IPCI/ICPD). The first IPCI/ICPD was held in November 2002 in Ottawa, Canada, the second in October 2004 in Strasbourg, France and the third in November 2006 in Bangkok, Thailand. These dispatches are intended to highlight important developments taking place around the world so that parliamentarians can be kept informed of and learn from the successes, setbacks and challenges encountered by their fellow parliamentarians in other countries and regions in their efforts to promote the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (September 1994, Cairo, Egypt). It should be noted that UNFPA does not necessarily endorse all of the policies described in this newsletter.
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