Zimbabwe ready to host high level international consultative conference on Population and Development
The Government of Zimbabwe is set to host a high level international consultative conference from the 9th to the 10th of October 2023 in the resort town of Victoria Falls.
The 20th International Inter-Ministerial Conference on South-South and Triangular Cooperation in Population and Development will draw participants that include heads of state, government ministers, parliamentarians, technical experts, development partners, civil society organizations, grassroots organizations, young people, business and community leaders, faith-based organizations, international financial institutions, people with disabilities, academics and many others interested in the pursuit of family planning, sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights.
By Bryan Simbarashe Matare (ZNFPC)
The participants will come from Partners in Population and Development (PPD)’s twenty seven (27) member countries drawn from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East as well as Non-PPD members who have strong commitments on South-South Cooperation for ICPD Programme of Action. Speaking at a press conference held in Harare on the 4th of October, The Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr. Douglas Mombeshora said that the conference will, “provide a high-level global forum for multi-dimensional dialogue, advocacy, peer review and shared commitment to celebrate the 30 years of progress in achieving ICPD Program of Action, while setting the stage to recommit and focus on the future.”
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ICPD stands for the International Conference on Population and Development, a 1994 meeting in Cairo where 179 governments including Zimbabwe adopted a revolutionary Programme of Action and called for women’s reproductive health and rights to take centre stage in national and global development efforts. Specifically, the Programme of Action called for all people to have access to comprehensive reproductive health care, including voluntary family planning, safe pregnancy and childbirth services, and the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections. It also recognized that reproductive health and women’s empowerment are intertwined, and that both are necessary for the advancement of society.
The Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council is mandated to coordinate all issues around family planning and sexual reproductive health and rights, will also be part of the conference and will present a paper during the conference. The conference is being organized by the Partners in Population and Development (PPD) and a ministerial-level inter-governmental body composed of 27 member countries that represent more than 60% of the world’s population. The conference is also co-organized and co-funded by the United Nations Population Fund-(UNFPA) which is an international development agency that works on population and development, sexual and reproductive health, and gender.
Local delegates will come from The Ministry of Health and Child Care, Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council, Ministry of Finance and Investment Promotion, Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care, Ministry of Women Affairs, Youth Empowerment and Development, Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, University of Zimbabwe among others.