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Contributions from
the Column
Facts and trends
“Relief demands the highest professional standard”
53 journalists killed
More money for
population issues
Sudanese rebel leader
John Garang becomes vice president
An action plan for the millennium goals
World Bank: Wolfensohn steps down
Malloch Brown new
chef de cabinet at UN
02/2005
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More money for population issues
In recent years, the donor countries have strengthened their commitment to the areas of population policy and reproductive health, which includes the fight against AIDS. However, they are still far from fulfilling their obligations arising from the Programme of Action agreed upon at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994. According to a study by the US-based organisation Population Action International (PAI), the total assistance for population policy doubled from 1.5 billion US dollars in 1996 to 3.2 billion in 2002, the latest year the PAI has comparable data for. These figures include bilateral, multilateral and private funds. In 2002, bilateral payments amounted to 2.3 billion dollars. Taking into account their commitment of 6.1 billion dollars for the year 2005, the donors have only fulfilled a third of what they pledged in Cairo. At the Cairo conference, it had been agreed to increase expenditure for population policy annually, and the donor countries were to bear a third. PAI lists Germany, Luxembourg and – to a lesser extent – Ireland among the countries that did increase spending for population matters. Leading the way are the Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands. The USA is lambasted for having reduced spending on family planning considerably since 2001. (ell)
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