Welcome to the Population and Reproductive Health (POP/RH) Portal

The POP/RH Portal is envisioned as a common platform for population and reproductive health related resources, information and dialogue. The Portal is being managed by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which is the lead United Nations organization for the follow-up and implementation of the Programme of Action (POA) of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD, 1994)(1). UNFPA is fully committed to working in partnership with governments, all parts of the United Nations system, development banks, bilateral aid agencies, non-governmental organizations and civil society.

Page Scope and Focus

The POP/RH sector is being built in collaboration with partner organizations from the population community, linking to resources on their websites and to those of other population and development organizations. It is envisioned that the sector will provide a community-built database of shared population information, including data, publications, research, projects, ideas and dialogue. It will also seek to promote innovative knowledge-sharing arrangements among expert organizations in the field. The POP/RH Portal defines the fields of population and reproductive health broadly and includes resources about the topics and actions identified in both the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) convened in Cairo in 1994 and the Key Actions for the Further Implementation of the Programme of Action agreed at the Twenty-first Special Session of the General Assembly for an Overall Review and Appraisal of the Implementation of the Programme of Action, 1999. Further information about the scope of the Portal can be found in footnote 2.

About the Key Issues Section

The Key Issues in this sector directly reflect the chapter content of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development. Accordingly, the description of each Key Issue includes chapter and paragraph references to the ICPD POA.

How you can join in?

The POP/RH topic page includes a wide range of electronic resources on various population-related issues. The page is designed for those who share a professional or educational interest and is intended to be participatory and interactive. We hope you will become a member and share your knowledge about the issues and challenges of population and development.

Disclaimer

The Population and Reproductive Health web portal is being built by the Development Gateway Foundation and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Content submitted to the Portal by users is subject to prior review by the portal managers, who will determine its suitability according to the subject focus outlined above and as defined in the Key Issues folders. Content contributions offered to the site will be rejected if they advocate violence, contain profanity, are scurrilous or inflammatory in nature, are not relevant to the subject of the site, or are otherwise inapplicable. The views expressed in content appearing in the Development Gateway are entirely those of the originators, and should not be attributed in any manner to the Development Gateway Foundation, the United Nations Population Fund, affiliated organizations, or members of the Development Gateway or UNFPA Boards of Directors or Executive Committees or the countries they represent.

Footnote

1) Report of the International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, 5B13 September 1994 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.95.XIII.18), chap. I, resolution 1, annex.

2) The scope of the topic page is guided by the principles and recommendations of the ICPD Programme of Action. The Programme of Action, “approved by consensus by 179 countries in September 1994, as contained in the report of the Conference and as endorsed by the General Assembly in its resolution 49/128 of 19 December 1994, marked the beginning of a new era in population and development. The objective of the landmark agreement reached at the International Conference on Population and Development was to raise the quality of life and the well-being of human beings, and to promote human development by recognizing the interrelationships between population and development policies and programmes aiming to achieve poverty eradication, sustained economic growth in the context of sustainable development, education, especially for girls, gender equity and equality, infant, child and maternal mortality reduction, the provision of universal access to reproductive health services, including family planning and sexual health, sustainable patterns of consumption and production, food security, human resources development and the guarantee of all human rights, including the right to development as a universal and inalienable right and an integral part of fundamental human rights.” These goals were reaffirmed at the Twenty-first Special Session of the General Assembly for an Overall Review and Appraisal of the Implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development. [From Key Actions for the Further Implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development. (A/S-21/5/Add.1, para. 1), 1 July 1999]