tailieunhanh - INVESTING IN REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH TO ACHIEVE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

There was no specific policy or set of guidelines for dealing with reproductive choice among HIV-infected individuals. Policymakers noted concern about the lack of guidelines, as well as about insufficient training in contraception, inadequate dual method counselling and the scant reference made to emergency contraception. Providers were unaware of World Health Organization guidelines on contraception for HIV- infected individuals. They expressed concern about the potential for some anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs to cause fetal malformation and felt women on ARVs should use contraception. Some policymakers spoke of the need for values-clarification training for policymakers and health care providers, as part. | INVESTING IN REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH TO ACHIEVE DEVELOPMENT GOALS The Middle East and North Africa by Farzaneh Roudi-Fahimi and Lori Ashford Development experts increasingly see family planning and other reproductive health care as vital for improving well-being and achieving other social and development goals. The use of modern contraceptives for example helps couples avoid unintended pregnancies and protects both mothers and children s health. Other reproductive health care helps women have healthy pregnancies and helps protect women and men against sexually transmitted diseases and HIV AIDS. The linkages between reproductive health and development are particularly important in the Middle East and North Africa MENA where progress toward development goals is Investing in reproductive health however rarely ranks high on the list of national priorities which usually emphasize creating jobs and raising incomes. This lack of attention is counterproductive. Prioritizing women s reproductive health at a national level would help accelerate progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals MDGs a global development framework adopted by the United Nations UN for improving people s lives and combating poverty. This policy brief examines how countries in the MENA region are progressing toward achieving the MDGs and highlights how these countries could benefit from greater attention to reproductive health. The region is moving in the right Table 1 Trends in Poverty in the MENA Region Population Living Below US 2 a Day PercentNumber in millions 1990 21 50 2002 23 70 NOTE Countries and territories included in this table are Algeria Djibouti Egypt Iran Iraq Jordan Lebanon Libya Morocco Oman Saudi Arabia Syria Tunisia Yemen and the West Bank and Gaza. SOURCES The World Bank Millennium Development Goals Middle East North Africa 2004 and United Nations World Population Prospects The 2004 Revision Population Database accessed at http . .