Uganda Health News: UN urged to add sex as Millennium Development Goal
|
|
First published: 20091024 6:42:39 AM EST
Ultimate Media
The achievement of the eight Millennium Development Goals, the anti-poverty benchmarks agreed upon by countries to halve poverty by 2015 is being hampered by unplanned sexual reproduction.
Prof. Malcolm Potts, a Human Reproductive scientist at the University Of California Berkeley School Of Public Health says the United Nations should stop shying away from naming responsible SEX as another millennium development goal, if the other eight MDGs are to be achieved.
Prof. Potts says unless all women in the world are able to have responsible and free will sex that allows them to decide when to get pregnant and how many children to have, other MDGs will not be achieved.
He was speaking today during celebrations to mark the 64th anniversary of the United Nations which took place at the International House in Berkeley.
During the ceremony, the UC Berkeley School of Public Health was awarded a medal by the UN Association of East Bay for their ground breaking research in health.
Prof. Potts says all women need to be protected from unintended child birth, which he says is the missing MDG. He says the high population growth currently being seen in many countries and women’s unmet need for family planning will continue to be a barrier to the achievement of the MDGs.
He says if women are prevented from having united children, there will be less maternal mortality, less number of children dying under five, while the levels of poverty will also reduce as the women commit more time to productive activities, and less on looking after large unplanned families.
At 3.3 percent per annum, Uganda is one of three countries with the highest population growth rate in the world. But President Yoweri Museveni has been insisting that a big population is good for the country since it adds on labour and market for the country’s growing industrial sector. It would be interesting for Museveni and Prof. Potts to have a joint discussion on the matter.
During the same function today, the UN Association of East Bay also awarded the Children’s Hospital and rRsearch Centre of Oaklnad, Rotary International, health publishers Hesperian for their outstanding work in promoting health in the world.
Herb Behrstock, the President of UNA East bay said the fourth annual global citizen award winners had been instrumental in helping the UN’s mandate to respond to today’s global health challenges including malaria, HIV/AIDS, polio, reproductive health, pediatric care as well as communicating health.
|
|
|
