WPF issues statement at CPD
A rights-based approach to prevention
Statement by World Population Foundation, 1 April 2009 at Commission on Population and Development, by Hilde Kroes, Advocacy Officer at WPF
Madam Chair, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,
Full sexual and reproductive health for all cannot be achieved without respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights. We need to ensure a rights-based approach to sexuality and reproduction of all and to comprehensive prevention.
The rights-based approach recognizes and respects all people as sexual and reproductive beings who have the right to correct information, access to services, supplies and education, but who also need to be protected from STIs/HIV, violence, coercion, discrimination, stigmatization and unwanted pregnancies. A rights-based approach calls for the conditions that make it possible for people to live their lives with confidence, pleasure and safety in all aspects of sexuality.
Today, over 50% of young people worldwide are sexually active by the age of 17. Today’s young people are increasingly affected with sexual health problems such as teenage pregnancy, early motherhood, unsafe abortions, STIs including HIV and sexual abuse. In addition, young people’s suffer from gender inequality, exclusion for being HIV positive and discrimination based on sexual orientation.
A healthy and enjoyable sexual and reproductive life starts with prevention. Access to sexual and reproductive health services, contraceptives, including the female condom, and safe abortion are crucial for all, especially for young people. But it all starts with knowledge and information.
How can people protect themselves and their partner if they don’t have the knowledge to do so? How can people protect themselves and their partner against unwanted pregnancy, HIV infection and other STIs without proper knowledge? They can't: it is as simply as that.
Evidence-based comprehensive sexuality education at a young age, covering all those issues, is therefore urgently needed. Comprehensive sexuality education seeks to assist young people in understanding a positive view of sexuality, provide them with information and skills about taking care of their sexual health, and to help them acquire skills to make decisions now and in the future. It also helps to explore attitudes and develop skills in areas as human development, relationships, personal skills, sexual behaviour, sexual health, and society and culture.
Comprehensive sexuality education enables choice and promotes safe, consensual sexual behavior. It has shown to delay sexual activity, to improve the utilization of condoms and contraception when sex does occur. It has also been shown that the number of sexual partners do not increase. It is win, win, win and it needs to be scaled up globally.
The world's governments have since 1995 agreed five times that comprehensive sexuality education and health services must be provided to young people: in the ICPD Programme of Action (PoA) of 1994, the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing (1995), ICPD+5, the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children and ICPD+10. School-based sexuality and reproductive health education is even declared to be a mandatory part of primary and secondary school curricula worldwide to achieve the MDGs. However, these promises have not been fulfilled.
To conclude, investing in young people’s SRHR and prevention is a lot cheaper than financing health problems. We need to ensure a rights-based approach to sexuality and reproduction of all. To achieve the PoA and the MDGs, investments and implementation of the access to sexual and reproductive health services, contraceptives - including the female condom - safe abortion and comprehensive sexuality education, especially for young people, are therefore urgently needed.
Thank you.
UAFC lobby paper
UAFC has developed a profound advocacy strategy in order to achieve acces to female condoms for all. For background on this strategy and to strengthen your own lobby activities you have access to this paper.
Breaking down the barriers!

Ilze Smit of UAFC Joint Programme presented the session Female Condom Programming and Advocacy: Braking down the Barriers! at the NGO Forum ICPD+15.
Trainings in Rwanda

"In our daily work in HIV prevention and even in our sexual and reproductive life sessions with potential users, in trainings and advocay, we talk about female condoms as you can see in these photos. I'm pushing to include FC in our major advocay themes. It recently has been included in the Rwanda National NGO forum on AIDS for the four year strategic plan (2009/2012)," says Fortunée Twiyubahe from ACORD/Oxfam International in Rwanda.

UAFC December newsletter is out
Knowledge base live
Part of our new website is the revolutionary knowledge base. This is a repository of concepts related to the main theme of UAFC, the female condom. This repository is organized according to themes, geographic location and time. We invite you to start exploring our knowledge base.
If you feel you have anything to contribute don't hesitate to contact us.
ACMS Website
In Cameroon the Association Camerounaise pour le Marketing (ACMS) works on making Female Condoms available to a large usersgroup. ACMS has its own website, with which it reaches especially young people.
Interview with Victoria Archibong, SFH
"I believe the introduction of the male condoms was relatively easier. This could be because it was easier to target men as the “dominant” party in relationships and the ones who will wear the condoms. There was also a lot of support from donors and IPs. The female condom is regarded more as a “woman thing”. Some men may feel threatened as the female condom will empower women in demonstrating their sexual and reproductive health rights. For Female condom programming, programmers have to be more creative and strategic."
Related to this item
- News: Consortium
- News: Testimonials
- Blog: Preparations for International Aids Conferenc
- Blog: Youth becoming advocates for Female Condom
- Blog: Becoming a real activist here
- Blog: It ain't over till it is over
- Document: Newsletter March 2009
- News: CPD resolution
- News: Facts list on the female condom
- News: Mandatory free supply in Brazil
- Document: Advocacy Toolkit
- News: The Pleasure Project
- News: Cooperation within the UAFC Joint Programme
- News: Research & development components
- News: Put 'sexy back in safe sex'
- News: Master trainings in Nigeria
- News: lobbypaper
- News: toolkit
- News: Health advocates promote new FC model
- News: Sao Tome and Principe
- News: Female condom shortage in Kenya
- News: FC gives women the edge
- Document: Day of Dialogue
- Document: Rise in unintended birth's in Nigeria
- Blog: Ye ye, I know all about the female condom
- News: fhc support
- News: advocacy for fc in cameroon
- Document: Response to Critics of Fam. Plan. Programs
- Document: Saving Lives Now report
- News: Launch FC country programme Nigeria
- News: Music contest for launch Cameroon
- News: Uganda FC advocates mobilize Kampala
- News: HIV prevention by FC
- News: Session at NGO Forum (Berlin, 2-4 Sept. 2009)
- Blog: Dazzled with new ideas
- Blog: Truly touched by words
- News: Malawi: Education to boost popularity FC
- News: Comment in the Lancet, 29 August 2009
- News: UNAIDS report 'What countries need'
- News: The Female Condom and the MDGs
- News: Female Condoms rub the right way
- News: SRH and Climate Change
- Document: Fewer Emitters, Lower Emissions, Lesser Costs
- Document: Over the Threshold: master thesis
- News: Blog article by Nick Wadhams
- News: Circumcision protects men not women from AIDS
- News: International Platform Meeting participants
- News: Gathering of the International Platform
- News: Speech Dutch MDG ambassador 6 October
- News: Program Int. Platform Meeting 6-7 October
- Document: Presentation Serra Sippel (CHANGE)
- Document: Presentation Ilze Smit
- Document: Speech Lucie van Mens
- Document: Presentation: Variety of FC in Cameroon
- Document: Presentation (Français) Cameroun
- Document: Presentation: case study Uganda
- Document: Presentation: The FC -Ugandan Experience
- Document: Presentation: development of new designs
- Document: Speech Yvonne Bogaarts
- News: Youth Statement Emily Karechio
- News: Advocacy Tools
- Document: International Platform Meeting, the report
- Blog: Flood of Family Planning
- News: ADVOCACY MESSAGE International Platform
- News: Video recap of the Platform Meeting
- News: Video female condom presentation
- News: "We can't ignore the needs of the people".
- News: ACMS workshop on female condoms
- News: AIDS advocacy alert
- News: Durban II Declaration
- News: Blog Women won't wait
- News: Uganda: FC2 big hit
- News: Funds for distributing FCs in Zambia
- News: Family Planning Mozambique
- News: Blog article by Serra Sippel
- News: 2nd videoclip on promoting FC in Cameroon
- Document: Declaration on FC by Cameroon Government
- News: High Level Female condom side-event at CSW
- Document: advocacy message CSW english
- Document: advocacy message CSW french
- Document: advocacy message CSW portugese
- Document: advocacy message CSW spanish
- Blog: Historical Moment at CSW
- News: New Global Initiative RH
- News: Chicago Campaign for FC2
- News: Pictures of Cameroon Programme
- News: African sexuality discourses, including FC
- Document: Call to Action on Maternal Health
- News: Artists from Cameroon promote FC
- News: History of the Female Condom
- News: FC: Protection against pregnancy and disease
- News: Donation of FCs helps fight HIV/AIDS in Kenya
- News: FC: Women friendly protection
- News: Official Launch UAFC in Cameroon
- News: FC becomes part of everyday life
- News: UAFC at AIDS 2010
- News: Advocacy Statement International Platform
- News: Information Sheet UAFC Joint Programme
- News: Advocay Message Variety & Choice
- News: Amazing Female Condom
- News: Video FC demonstration
- News: Pressrelease (NL) at AIDS Conference Vienna
- News: Article on FC best way of prevention
- News: Press release AIDS Conference Vienna
Related to this location
- News: Consortium
- News: Mandatory free supply in Brazil
- News: lobbypaper
- Document: Reproductive Health Supplies in 6 Countries
- Document: Saving Lives Now report
- News: Uganda FC advocates mobilize Kampala
- News: HIV prevention by FC
- News: Comment in the Lancet, 29 August 2009
- News: Blog article by Nick Wadhams
- News: Circumcision protects men not women from AIDS
- News: International Platform Meeting participants
- News: Gathering of the International Platform
- News: Speech Dutch MDG ambassador 6 October
- News: Program Int. Platform Meeting 6-7 October
- Document: Presentation Serra Sippel (CHANGE)
- Document: Presentation Ilze Smit
- Document: Speech Lucie van Mens
- Document: Presentation: case study Uganda
- Document: Presentation: The FC -Ugandan Experience
- Document: Speech Yvonne Bogaarts
- Document: International Platform Meeting, the report
- News: Gathering of the International Platform
- Blog: Flood of Family Planning
- News: Dutch Development Cooperation Event
- News: Blog Women won't wait
- News: Uganda: FC2 big hit
- News: Blog article by Serra Sippel
- News: Chicago Campaign for FC2
- News: FC: Protection against pregnancy and disease
- News: Video FC demonstration
- News: Article on FC best way of prevention
- News: Press release AIDS Conference Vienna
New on this site
- News: Press release AIDS Conference Vienna
- News: Article on FC best way of prevention
- News: Video FC demonstration
- News: Amazing Female Condom
- News: Advocay Message Variety & Choice
- News: Information Sheet UAFC Joint Programme
- News: Advocacy Statement International Platform
- News: FC becomes part of everyday life
- News: Official Launch UAFC in Cameroon
New in this section
- News: Press release (Dutch) AIDS conference Vienna
- News: UAFC at AIDS 2010 Vienna
- News: UN Global Initiative Reproductive, Maternal, and Newborn Health
- Document: See the document
- Document: See the document
- Document: See the document
- Document: See the document
- News: High Level Female condom side-event at CSW
- News: new campaign for female condom in Rwanda
- News: Sexuality, hiv & aids in Africa
