Asia Pacific conclave on reproductive and sexual health
http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/153204/1/
Press Release

16 September 2007
Exploring New Frontiers in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
is the theme of the 4th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and
Sexual Health and Rights (APCRSH) being held in Hyderabad, India,
from October 29-31, 2007.

This conference will bring together more than 1200 participants
including NGOs, government officials, donors, UN representatives,
media persons and parliamentarians to discuss issues related to
sexual & reproductive health and rights.

The conference aims to develop new strategies for future research and
programming on the subject. It will also enhance understanding of the
importance of rights-based programmes on such sensitive issues in the
Asia Pacific region.

There will be special focus on young people and adolescents. Sexual
and Reproductive Health (SRH) is seen as central to achieving the
Millennium Development Goals too.

With 700 million adolescents (10-19 years) living in Asia, the
subject is extremely relevant for the region. Not only are their
numbers large but they are experiencing rapid changes in attitudes
and expectations in a fast-changing world. Therefore, developing
programmes to address their SRH needs poses a major challenge.

In India there has been considerable debate on the relevance and
importance of sex education in schools. The conference will enable
educationists and thinkers to get a wider regional and international
perspective on the subject.

The integration of family planning, HIV/AIDS and SRH envisioned at
ICPD (International Conference on Population and Development held in
Cairo in 1994) is gradually taking place in the Asia Pacific region
despite constraints of funding, organizational barriers, and limited
training opportunities for health service providers.

The biennial Asia Pacific conference on sexual and reproductive
health enables donors, target groups, activists and civil society to
get together to take stock of current trends and research. Beginning
in 2001, conferences have been held in Manila, Bangkok and Kuala
Lumpur. These conferences were able to generate new energies and
provide directions thus leading to a more focussed and synergised
approach.

The Hyderabad conference will deal with expanding and empowering the
SRHR movement, moving beyond tokenism, equalizing sexual relations,
responding to emerging issues in SRHR, addressing unmet need for SRH
services, and making pregnancy safe and wanted through a more
expanded `informed choices' in services.

The rapid fertility decline and demographic transition experienced in
most of Asia has been accompanied in several countries by heightened
discrimination against girls. It is manifested through prevailing pre-
natal sex selection and female feotecide resulting in increased sex
ratio imbalance.

Son-preference, the combination of traditional methods of neglect of
girls and misuse of modern technology, urbanization, rising
educational levels and standard of living has lead to an increasing
deficit of young girls across the region, often so in the affluent
sections of the populations.

Needless to emphasize, a country's sex-ratio can be a telling
indicator of its social well-being. Skewed sex ratios at birth have
already resulted in a demographic gap in parts of China and in India,
with the far-reaching consequences, including growing violence
against women and girls, bride trafficking and early marriages.

Despite legislative responses, recent available data shows that the
practice persists and its spill-over effects are impacting
neighbouring countries too.

The India Consortium on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
includes Mamta Health Institute for Mother and Child and Population
Foundation of India, New Delhi, Centre for Health Education, Training
and Nutrition Awareness, Ahmedabad, Centre for Operations Research
and Training, Baroda, Child In Need Institute, Kolkata, Family
Planning Association of India, Indian Society for the Study of
Reproduction and Fertility (ISSRF) and the Humsafar Trust, Mumbai.