Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoUnifeed
UNFPA / U.S. FUNDING REAX
Download
There is no media available to download.
STORY: UNFPA / U.S. FUNDING REAX
TRT: 2.46
SOURCE: UNFPA / UNICEF / WHO / MINUSTAH / UNHCR / PAHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 10 MARCH 2009, BANGKOK, THAILAND / FILE
FILE – WHO – DATE UNKNOWN, AFGHANISTAN
1. Wide shot, village
2. Various shots, women kneading bread
FILE – UNICEF – 14 FEBRUARY 2009, AL SHATEE CAMP, GAZA
3. Med shot, men walking around rubble from destroyed building
4. Pan left, women hanging clothes on corridor of school
5. Med shot, women hanging clothes to dry on balcony of school corridor
10 MARCH 2009, BANGKOK, THAILAND
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Thoraya Obaid, Executive Director, United Nations population Fund (UNFPA):
“We warmly applaud this action by President Obama. This is a much, much needed support. It will contribute to UNFPA’s ongoing effort to support governments to decrease maternal mortality, improve maternal health, and prevent HIV/Aids. Certainly this funding will advance the health, and rights of women in all countries all around the globe. We’re very happy to receive this money.”
FILE – UNICEF – 6 NOVEMBER 2008, ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA
7. Med shot, young woman and mother walking
8. Wide shot, hospital
9. Med shot, nurse preparing young woman’s arm to draw blood from
10. Various shots, young patient talking with doctor
FILE – PAHO – 2008, HONDURAS
11. Med shot, mother and child walking in street
FILE – PAHO – 2008, MEXICO
12. Wide shot, women and children washing clothes in river
13. Wide shot, two boys loading donkeys with water jugs
10 MARCH 2009, BANGKOK, THAILAND
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Thoraya Obaid, Executive Director, United Nations population Fund (UNFPA):
“It is a great day for women and girls all over the world as well as their families because it means families can now make decisions about the number and spacing of the children, about the quality of their life and the reproductive life of women through a life cycle.”
FILE – UNHCR – 26, 27 FEBRUARY 2009, KAKUMA, KENYA
15. Wide shot, hair dresser and customer
16. Various shots, hair dresser braiding hair
17. Various shots, women sewing
18. Various shots, women working with clay
FILE – UNICEF – DATE UNKNOWN, AFGHANISTAN
19. Wide shot, health center
20. Various shots, training midwives
21. Close up, mother and child
With his signature into law of an omnibus spending bill this week, United States President Barack Obama has also reversed the previous administration’s ban on US funding for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).
UNFPA Executive Director, Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said Obama’s action on Wednesday (11 March) reminded the world of his commitment to women’s health, rights and equality.
Obaid said “We warmly applaud this action by President Obama”, explaining that the funding would contribute to UNFPA’s efforts to support governments in decreasing maternal mortality, improving maternal health and preventing HIV/Aids. She stressed that “certainly” that funding would advance the health, and rights of women in all countries all around the globe.
The new $50 million contribution, recently approved by Congress, heralds the resumption of US funding for UNFPA since its suspension in 2002.
Obaid said it was “a great day for women and girls all over the world”. The resumption of funding meant that “families can now make decisions about the number and spacing of the children, about the quality of their life and the reproductive life of women through a life cycle”.
The US contribution will support ongoing UNFPA initiatives around the world, such as training midwives to ensure safe deliveries in nations as diverse as Bangladesh and Laos; delivering health supplies to clinics in Ethiopia and Honduras; supporting the treatment of obstetric fistula in Mauritania, Niger and other countries; meeting the special needs of women in crises such as in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gaza; and preventing HIV among young people in Haiti and Malawi.
The President’s action this week fulfills a pledge he made during his first days in office.
