It was a busy, successful year for UNFPA, UN Population Fund, as it continued to work in 2011 with partners to address universal access to reproductive health, including maternal health, treatment for obstetric fistula and family planning, and to improve the lives of women and young people around the world.
A special emphasis was made on the important work of midwives and the crucial role they play in saving lives and bettering maternal health. UNFPA also drew worldwide attention to the growing need for family planning, increasing opportunities for young people, reproductive health in emergency situations and the fact that 7 billion people now inhabit the planet — and what that means for each of us. The UNFPA State of the World Population 2011 report, “People and Possibilities in a World of 7 Billion,” discussed, among other issues, the need for women, and young women in particular, to receive the highest standards of health care so that they can fully give back to society.
Women Deliver, a global advocacy group focused on Millennium Development Goal 5, has listed 10 maternal health highlights of 2011. Many UNFPA activities and partnering work are front and center on the list. These include Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Every Women Every Child initiative and international youth-leader conferences:
- State of the World's Population Report on 7 Billion and the 7 Billion Actions campaign
- Launching of the UNFPA-led State of the World's Midwifery Report
- 2011 International Conference on Family Planning
- Increasing global media coverage of safe motherhood and MDG 5.
In 2012, UNFPA will continue to work to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe and women and young people lie at the heart of development efforts.
