Advocacy for family planning education and services in Malaysia began with the pioneering work of concerned individuals and medical practitioners in the early 1950s. The first Family Planning Association (FPA) was registered in 1953 in the state of Selangor and in 1958, four state FPAs formed the Federation of Family Planning Associations, Malaysia (FFPAM). Today […]

Indonesia’s reproductive health status has been greatly affected by the social, economic and political circumstances in the country since 1999. The Government of Indonesia (GOI) cited the economic crisis as the main cause for the failure of numerous sexual and reproductive health programmes. Another oft-referred-to challenge was the frequent changes in governmental leadership (three presidents […]

The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) marked an important moment in the history of women’s reproductive health and rights the world over, as well as the further recognition that women’s empowerment and full participation in political, social and economic life were necessary conditions for development and progress to take place. Indeed with […]

2004 was significant as the year in which the ten year implementation of both the Cairo and Beijing Conferences were assessed. ARROW and country partners entered these processes and participated full of enthusiasm and energy taking part in five regional and three international meetings. ARROW ensured that the key issues of the women’s health and […]

There has been considerable progress in China in the field of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) since the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994. Following on the ICPD, the Chinese Government collaborated with NGOs to make a number of policy changes that relate broadly to family planning, public health, and […]

The State of the World Population Report 2003 (UNFPA) estimates that Nepal’s maternal mortality rate (MMR) has doubled in the past seven years and stands at 905 per 100,000. After Afghanistan, which has a mortality rate of 1,276 per 100,000, Nepal has the second highest mortality rate in South Asia. The present moment is critical […]

Pakistan’s population programme began in 1953; the first official population policy was introduced in the mid-sixties. The programme has been characterised by the demographic objectives of reducing the population and fertility growth rates. Initially it solely addressed women and failed in reaching its objectives. The programme received a major setback during the military government of […]

The civil war of the seventies and the ensuing political unrest during the past three decades has left Cambodia with a poor public sector infrastructure and services. The Khmer Rouge decimated the health system: of the 1,000 doctors trained prior to 1975, less than 50 survived the regime. In 1979, the restoration of a functioning […]

Ten years after governments recognised and committed to promote sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) at ICPD, significant progress has been made through effective lobbying by activist groups. But the political will to implement these commitments is still lacking and SRHR issues continue to be pushed and pulled in opposite directions by progressive and […]

The 2004 global and regional roundtables reviewing and monitoring progress of the Cairo Programme of Action (POA) implementation concluded that this document remains a critical comprehensive UN document which outlines an agenda and framework linking human rights principles with population and development, poverty eradication, social justice, gender equality, women’s empowerment, sexual and reproductive health and […]