JOICFP NEWS NO. 250 APRIL 1995.pdf

Media

extracted text: NO. 250 April 1995

ISSN 0911-0755

JOICFPINEWS
Japan Increases Assistance to UNFPA/IPPF
Japanese government pledges
US$71 million in population
assistance to multilateral
agencies for 1995
The government of Japan demonstrated its
commitment to assisting population activities
rldwide by increasing its contribution to
^JFPA and IPPF to US$71 million in fiscal
1995 (April 1, 1995 - March 31, 1996). The
figure represents an increase of US$3.9 million
over the previous year’s contribution of
US$67.1 million. The amount was approved by
the Japanese Diet (parliament) in its budget for
the 1995 fiscal year.
The government also showed a significant
commitment to supporting the work of non
governmental organizations (NGOs) by
increasing funds allocated to NGOs in the 1995
budget. The rare increase in the budget
allocation is viewed as an endorsement of the
effective role played by NGOs at the grassroots.
One source of NGO funding that saw an
increase was Grassroot Grant Assistance, smallscale grants allocated to NGOs in developing
countries by the Japanese embassy in each
intry.

Global Issues Initiative
In 1994, the Japanese government
reinforced its commitment to the solution of
global population problems by announcing the
Global Issues Initiative (GII) on Population and
AIDS. Under the initiative, Japan has
committed US$3 billion over a period of seven
years from 1994-2000 to solve population
problems and fight the spread of AIDS
worldwide.
Through the GII, the government has
reaffirmed its intention to work in close
partnership with NGOs to ensure that assistance
reaches the people at the grassroots. The
government has already established a dialog
with NGOs on population and AIDS and related
issues such as women’s empowerment and
reproductive health. J OICFP, with experience
and expertise in reproductive health including

Japanese Government Support to UNFPA/IPPF 1985-1995
(in millions of U.S. dollars)

50.00

52.13/1 55.03,/

T

'45.93/2

40.00
30.00
20.00

10.00

■87

'92
'94

family planning (FP), has been assisting in
initial GII activities. JOICFP has been
entrusted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to
conduct situation analysis surveys in some of
the priority countries nominated under the GIF
With the 1995 contribution, Japan remains
the biggest donor to UNFPA, the world’s largest
multilateral agency providing population
assistance. Japan has continued to demonstrate
its support for international population and FP
activities since 1969 when it provided its first
financial assistance to IPPF. The government’s
assistance to UNFPA began in 1971 with an
initial contribution of US$1.5 million.
Japan has continued to increase its
contribution to the agencies on an annual basis.
The amount allocated to IPPF from this year’s
total has yet to be decided, but it will exceed
the US$17.90 million provided to IPPF in 1994
from the Japanese contribution.
The Japanese government made its position
on population assistance clear this year by
increasing its budget allocation to UNFPA/IPPF

1

despite widespread budgetary constraints. In
the wake of the Great Hanshin Earthquake in
Kobe and surrounding areas on January 17, the
government has been reallocating funds for
earthquake relief and reconstruction. The
lingering economic recession, which has
affected the government’s spending power, has
also been responsible for budget cuts to some
areas of funding.
The Japanese government reiterated its
commitment to population activities with its
strong endorsement of the Program of Action
adopted by the International Conference on
Population and Development (ICPD) held in
Cairo, Egypt, in September 1994. In a
statement to the conference, the government
clearly expressed its support of activities to
promote women’s empowerment including the
promotion of basic health, basic education,
women in development and reproductive health.
Representatives of NGOs including women
were included in the official Japanese
delegation to the conference.

Ghana

Ghana on Right Track
Teferi Seyoum, UNFPA country director
for Ghana, recently provided an outline of the
population situation in Ghana and UNFPA
activities in the country to JOICFP NEWS.
Below are highlights.
Population activities in Ghana have been
guided by the National Population Policy which
was adopted in 1969. The second UNFPA
population program for Ghana (1991-1995) was
designed to contribute to the attainment of the
four goals of: revitalization of Ghana’s
population program; improvement of the
government’s capacity to achieve population
targets, doubling the prevalence of modern
contraceptives, and increased supervised
deliveries; achievement of non-quantifiable
targets such as redressing the imbalance
between rural and urban areas; and assisting the
government in research and policy analysis on

the persistent demand for large families.
In the maternal and child health/family
planning (MCH/FP) sector, UNFPA assistance
has targeted strengthening the capacity of the
health delivery system by equipping service
delivery points and building up the national
capability; increasing the proportion of women
of child-bearing age using FP services; and
reinforcing the capacity of the Ministry of
Health to coordinate, manage and monitor the
MCH/FP program.
The country has made significant progress,
most notably in increasing contraceptive usage
and in reducing the total fertility rate from 6.4
in 1988 to 5.5 in 1993. However, several
constraints impede smoother program
implementation such as the poor quality of
antenatal, delivery and post-natal care for
mothers; low level of education of many
mothers; poor referral
system; inadequate
equipment/supplies; and
poor distribution of
Ghana Targeted Under GII
services. High infant
mortality still persists
JOICFP was entrusted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
because of poor
of Japan to conduct a situation analysis survey in Ghana, one
accessibility and low
of the 12 priority countries nominated under the Japanese
utilization of facilities,
government’s Global Issues Initiative (GII) on Population
especially in rural areas.
and AIDS. JOICFP Program Officer Ryoko Nishida and
The general lack of
staff member Mayumi Katsube gathered information on the
knowledge about sexuality
situation of population and AIDS in Ghana from February 3
and contraception and
- 14. The information was
inadequate IEC service
collected for a background paper
have worked against
which the Japanese government
effective promotion of FP.
is using to guide development of
■
The government has
its program of assistance to
developed a sectoral
Ghana under the GII.
population plan of action
The JOICFP team was
towards addressing these
assisted in its mission in Ghana
issues to guide the
by the UNFPA Country Support
Luka Monoja
management of population
Team (CST), East and Central
issues.
Africa. The JOICFP team was
The new UNFPA
able to create a population/AIDS profile and identify needs
country program (1996in Ghana with the collaboration of Dr. Luka-Tombekana
2000) will seek to address
Monoja, regional training adviser, MCH/FP in the UNFPA/
the above identified
Country Support Team.
constraints among others.
According to 1993 statistics, Ghana has a high
Given the prevailing
population growth rate of 3.1% with a total fertility rate of
political commitment to
5.5. Infant and child mortality rates are 82%c and 109%c
population programs, and
respectively, while maternal mortality is 24 per 100,000 live
the noticeable increase in
births. Life expectancy at birth is currently 56 years.
the participation of
Meanwhile, the reported number of AIDS cases in Ghana
grassroots organizations
stood at 13.700 as of mid-1994. The actual number of AIDS
and non-governmental
cases, however, is estimated to be higher than 30,000.
organizations (NGOs) in

lilili

2

population
management in
general, and
considering the
significant
financial and
technical
support
provided by
Teferi Seyoum
several donors
including
UNFPA, the demographic transition in Ghana
will be greatly accelerated in the next five
years. That goal is achievable provided the
present level of donor assistance is not only
sustained but increased appreciably. I am
optimistic that Ghana will continue to enlist the
cooperation of donors.

-

The community people of Bontrease
village where JOICFP’s Integrated
Project is being implemented have
joined hands to construct a clinic in the
village. The clinic, which is being built
in collaboration with the Planned
Parenthood Association of Ghana
(PPAG), is expected to be finished by
the end of April. It is being made with
funds allocated by the Japanese Ministry
of Posts and Telecommunications under
the Postal Savings for International
Voluntary Aid (POSIVA) scheme. The
construction, which is supervised by an
implementation committee, has drawn
men and women together in an energetic
effort to improve the quality of life.
The community people expressed
enthusiasm for the project to a recent
JOICFP mission and said that they
welcomed the work of the community
based distributors (CBDs) who have
been trained and supplied under the
project to make FP services and
information available locally.

JOICFP NEWS, April 1995

In the News

Working Towards Self-reliance
in Taicang
In just one year, the IP Training Center in
Taicang City, China, has achieved considerable
success thanks to the people’s efforts and to
Japanese guidance, said Zhen Yinlin, vice
mayor, Taicang City, and vice president,
Taicang Family Planning Association (TFPA).
The concept of the center, which provides
preventive health-care and medical services on
a fee-charged basis, is new to China, he said.
This activity should have the understanding of
the local government and should be expanded
to ensure that people of all ages have access to
quality services provided in a self-reliant
iner, he added.
Zhen made his comments to JOICFP as
leader of a study group of seven health-care
administrators concerned with the promotion of

JOICFP’s Integrated Project (IP) in
China. The Chinese delegates were
drawn from throughout Taicang City, site
of the initial IP activities in China 11
years ago. The delegates were in Japan
from February 20 - March 1.
The IP Training Center, first
established in 1993 and run by the TFPA, was
expanded in 1994 to embrace wider health-care
activities with the ultimate aim of providing
quality services on a self-reliant basis. The
TFPA established a parasite examination
section within the center in April 1994 from
which it has been conducting mass parasite
examination and treatment activities on school
students to promote health education.
Last year, the center targeted the 42,000 or

JpPF Volunteers Meet at EXCO
The prominent volunteers of family
planning associations attending an IPPFESEAOR Regional Executive Committee
Meeting (EXCO) in Tokyo, were introduced to
the Japanese experience in promoting family
planning and maternal and child health (FP/
MCH) services on a self-reliant basis while in
~ kyo for the event. The meeting was held on
February 17
and 18 and
attended by
18 parti
cipants
including
Dr.Wu
Jieping,
The EXCO meeting.
committee
chairman,
IPPF-ESEAOR, and vice president, China
Family Planning Association. V. T. Palan,
director, IPPF-ESEAOR, also attended the
regional event where a total of 13 countries
were represented.
The executive committee meeting is held
twice a year for the ESEAOR Region. EXCO is
held in member countries on a rotational basis.
During the opening ceremony, a message
was read from FP pioneer Shidzue Kato,

Ska

JOICFP NEWS, April 1995

president, Family Planning Federation of Japan
(FPFJ), and vice president, JOICFP. A
highlight of the meeting was a half-day field
visit to offices and facilities of the Hoken
Kaikan group which embraces such
organizations as the Japan Family Planning
Association (JFPA), FPFJ and JOICFP.
The participants were provided with a brief
history of the FP movement in Japan by Dr.
Minoru Muramatsu, standing director, FPFJ,
who highlighted keys to its success.
Putting the movement into a historical
perspective, Muramatsu explained that a
concerted effort by the government and private
sector, including non-governmental
organizations, succeeded in promoting FP and
bringing down the abortion rate. The
acceptance of FP spread and the decline in the
birthrate accelerated, to result in a drop from 34
live births per 1.000 head of population in 1947
to 17 in 1957, he said.
Muramatsu stressed that the drop was
mostly due to people voluntarily accepting FP.
He added, “Birth control became popular first
as a measure of self-defense in the face of
difficult living conditions, and later on it further
progressed together with the modernization and
industrialization of the nation.”

3

The visitors speak with staff of the Shizuoka
Health Service Association.

so primary and junior high school students of
Taicang City with fee-charged parasite control
(PC) services and achieved a 94.7% coverage.
The infection rate was found to be 13.7% for
this group.
In addition to PC, the center has been
conducting training activities and providing a
range of services including FP, MCH care
services and health services for the aged, and
carrying out IEC activities.
The delegates used their time in Japan to
report on the progress of fee-charged activities
of the center and to discuss with Japanese
experts ways to expand health-care activities
and broaden the target population of the mass
PC activities. The Chinese also discussed the
work plan for 1995.
The trip to Japan provided the Chinese with
an opportunity to learn various strategies used
by Japanese non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) to seek self-reliance through the
provision of quality services on a fee-charged
basis. The team visited self-reliant Japanese
NGOs such as the Japan Family Planning
Association and Tokyo Health Service
Association. They also joined a field trip to
Shizuoka Prefecture, where the members were
introduced to the self-reliant activities of the
Shizuoka Health Service Association, an NGO
providing comprehensive health care services.

s fr'

14

(A r

Participants observe blood testing at Tokyo
Health Service Association.

Asia & Pacific

UnFPA Sharpens Focus
Saad Raheem Sheikh, director, Asia and the
Pacific Division, UNFPA, spoke with JOICFP
NEWS on February 22 about UNFPA’s focus in
the region following the International
Conference on Population and Development
(ICPD). Below is an outline of his interview.
After ICPD we have been extremely busy
to focus on the recommendations and mandate
given to us. Let me preface that by saying the
ICPD conclusions and Program of Action are
basically for the governments to implement, but
of course
UNFPA has a
major
collaborative
role. Our main
theme will be
reproductive
health and
family planning
(FP) which
would include
the empower
ment of women
Raheem Sheikh
and IEC
activities.
Population and sustainable development would
be the other area of focus. With regard to the
empowerment of women, the emphasis on the
education of the girl child receives priority
attention. Also, areas related to HIV/AIDS and
STDs as well as infections of the reproductive
tract would receive more attention.
We also feel very strongly that UNFPA
should assume a wide-ranging and assertive
advocacy role in implementing the ICPD Plan
of Action. Since Cairo, we have held meetings
at the regional level. For the Asia and Pacific
Region we organized a meeting in New York at
the end of November and invited
representatives of some governments, non
governmental organizations (NGOs) and
specialists in the fields of reproductive health,
quality of care, NGOs and IEC to come up with
recommendations in the key areas for UNFPA.
Very interesting and useful recommendations
were made and these will be incorporated into
an “omnibus paper” from all the regions. We
are also working on technical guidelines for
each of the activities like reproductive health,
gender issues, IEC and population policy. The
guidelines will be finalized shortly and sent out
to all field offices and participating agencies.
The executive director is very keen on
UNFPA supporting activities that will increase

the role and performance of NGOs and bring
them into the mainstream of reproductive
health/FP activity. In this regard, the Asia and
Pacific Division of UNFPA is encouraging the
country directors to support the activities of
NGOs, provide facilities for them to meet and
discuss the major issues which follow up on the
ICPD and to find ways and means of
strengthening their management capacity.
We have recently signed an agreement with
an international NGO in Canada, the
Foundation for International Training, to
organize national-level seminars to promote
collaboration between the governments and
NGOs. This will not only improve the
partnership at the national level but also
encourage the governments to devolve certain
activities to the NGO sector. We hope that five
seminars will be completed by the end of this
year and four more will be conducted next year.
These seminars have been conceptualized in
such a way that we will train the trainers within
each country. After the first round it should be
possible for the countries to continue with such
seminars at the provincial and district levels.

NGOs After Cairo
One of the significant successes of the
Cairo conference was the enormous role played
by the NGOs. Their intellectual and service
delivery role has been much appreciated by the
governments. I find that a number of
governments have now agreed to involve many
of the grassroots NGOs in implementing
components of their program. In India, for
example, the government has given contracts to
a number of NGOs in certain districts. Other
countries in South Asia have taken steps that
indicate the strengthening of NGOs and a closer
partnership with the governments in
implementing the Cairo recommendations.
Another recognition that has become clear
after Cairo, particularly through the role played
by the women NGOs, is the need for quality of
care in the service delivery of FP programs.
We in the Asia and Pacific Region are
working very closely with the World Bank to
stimulate NGO collaboration and are planning a
second seminar for the last quarter of this year
where the Bank and UNFPA will jointly
sponsor a seminar for South Asia. This is a
continuation of the previous seminar held in
Indonesia in 1991 where JOICFP also
participated actively.

4

Women on
APDA Agenda
Women’s participation in economic
development was the theme of the second
session of the 11th Asian Parliamentarians’
Meeting on Population and Development, held
in Tokyo on March 14 and 15. Discussions
during the meeting reflected recommendations
made at such events as the Earth Summit (UN
Conference on Environment and Development)
held in Brazil in 1992 and the International
Conference on Population and Development
(ICPD) held in Egypt in 1994. The womenand-labor orientation of the meeting theme
echoed the strong emphasis on women in the
ICPD Program of Action.
The event was organized by the Asian
Population and Development Association
(APDA) and supported by UNFPA and IPPF. It
was attended by over 50 participants including
parliamentarians
from 15 countries,
officials of UNFPA
and IPPF, and
experts.
The keynote
address by Takeo
Fukuda, former
prime minister of
Michihiko Kano
Japan, and
president, JOICFP,
was presented by
Michihiko Kano, senior vice chairman, Japan
Parliamentarians Federation for Population
(JPFP). Fukuda stressed the need to recogniz
the population problem as a global issue and
urged countries of the world to take collective
action to ensure survival. Calling the issues of
population, environment and food production
keys to survival, Fukuda said that the alarming
rate of environmental destruction can only be
slowed by decreasing population growth and by
developing and disseminating technology that
will have little load on the environment.
A statement by UNFPA executive director,
Dr. Nafis Sadik, was also read at the event by
Dr. Hirofumi Ando, deputy executive director,
Policy and Administration, UNFPA. Appealing
to parliamentarians to mobilize the political
will and resources to implement the Program of
Action, Sadik stressed “You are the link
between the people and also help governments
set the right priorities and formulate the
programs we need to achieve sustainable
human development.”
JOICFP NEWS, April 1995

Update

Challenges for Africa
Lavu Mulimba is a member ofparliament
and chairman of the Planned Parenthood
Association of Zambia (PPAZ). In addition to
other posts, he also serves as chairperson,
Africa and Middle East Region of
Parliamentarians for Population and
Development. He was recently in Japan for the
11th Asian Parliamentarians’ Meeting on
Population and Development following his
attendance at the World Summit for Social
Development in Copenhagen, Denmark. Below
is an outline of an interview with JOICFP
NEWS conducted on March 16.
At the time of independence in 1964,
Zambia had a population of 3.5 million. In
1 °91, it was 9 million. About 49% of the
dlation is now under 15 and about 2% is
over 55. We have a 3% annual population
growth rate, one of the highest in the world and
about the same as the population growth rate of
Sub-Saharan Africa.
In Zambia, as in the rest of Sub-Saharan
Africa, we have a higher population growth rate

than economic growth rate. A situation of high
population growth and declining economic
growth, and a population that is young is
generally true for all of Africa where infant
mortality rates are increasing despite gains in
health sectors. This is attributed to the fact that
access to health services is still constrained by
distance in rural areas, and by the focus on
curative expenditure related to maintaining
hospitals and professional staff salaries.
Africa also has declining expenditures on
social services as the result of declining
earnings from exports. For example, in 1965,
Zambia’s earnings from copper enabled us to
construct district hospitals throughout most of
the country and to link provincial capitals to
Lusaka with tarmac. But after the drop of
copper prices and the sudden increase in the
price of oil in 1973, we were not able to
maintain our infrastructure. As a result of many
such factors, the level of relative poverty and
absolute poverty have grown in Africa.
The solution prescribed by the International

NgOs Updated on GJI Progress
Thirty representatives of Japanese non
governmental organizations (NGOs) were given
an update on progress being made under the
Japanese
government’s
Global Issues
Initiative (GII)
on Population
and AIDS at a
meeting in
Tokyo on March
The NGO meeting.
14. The event,
the third such
NGO meeting on
the GII called by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs (MOFA), focused on NGO involvement
in the implementation of the initiative.
Norio Hattori, deputy director general,
Bureau of Economic Cooperation, MOFA,
reported on a meeting between international
NGOs and Japanese government officials on
March 9 at the World Summit for Social
Development in Copenhagen, Denmark. The
meeting, attended by 130 participants, focused
on Japanese official development assistance.

JOICFPNEWS, April 1995

An outline of the recent overall Economic
Cooperation Mission to Ghana and Senegal was
provided by Masafumi Kuroki, director,
Research and Programming Division,
Economic Cooperation Bureau, MOFA. Kuroki
also noted that situation analysis surveys were
recently conducted in Ghana and Senegal by
JOICFP under the GII, and that project
formulation missions are scheduled for
Bangladesh, India and Pakistan after April.
The participants also discussed NGO
involvement in GII implementation. The Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and
Foundation for Advanced Studies on
International Development (FASID) will
consider including NGO representatives as
lecturers for training courses run by them and
asking NGOs for recommendations for
curriculum development of these courses. The
ministry officials explained that from April the
government is adding “promotion of women’s
independence” as a new area for assistance to
NGO activities. Another new development is
the inclusion of part of administration costs in
areas covered by subsidies.

5

Lavu Mulimba
Conference on Population and Development
(ICPD) is to invest in human resources; to
rearrange priorities away from military
expenditure and Western-style structures such
as large hospitals and airports that consume a
lot of foreign exchange. The new approach is
to satisfy first and foremost not just the basic
needs, but to invest in education and health, to
simplify land tenure systems to give peasant
farmers access to land which they can use as
assets to get credit. This approach was already
agreed upon by African heads of state in 1992
in Dakar. It is challenging the members of
parliament in Africa to ensure their
governments realign their budgets to address
themselves to investing in human capital; to
empowering women who, for example, produce
60-80% of Zambia’s staple food, maize.
Developing countries, where 1 billion
people live in absolute poverty, will need
additional resources to fund these priorities.
The members of parliament in developed
countries have the unenviable task of getting
those governments that allocate less than 0.7%
of budget to official development assistance to
reach this figure. Their task is also to get their
governments to implement the 20-20 formula
recommended by the World Summit for Social
Development and by other forums. With this
formula, developed countries should put aside
20% of their national budgets to be used for aid
for developing countries. In turn, developing
countries should equally spend 20% of their
national budget on social sectors.
Clearly, the prosperity of the North can
only be underpinned by maintaining the
purchasing power of the South. The existence
of poverty anywhere in the world is a threat to
prosperity everywhere. There is no way that
the high consumption of resources from raw
material-producing countries leading to
environmental destruction can be maintained at
present levels without serious efforts being
made to protect the economies of countries
where raw materials come from.

Japan

Japanese Births Jump in 1994
A dramatic increase in the number of births
in Japan in 1994 over the previous year has
surprised demographers who had predicted a
continuation of the falling birthrate. According
to the Ministry of Health and Welfare
(MOHW), a total of 1.235 million babies were
born in 1994, an increase of 47,000 over the
total for 1993. The increase in the number of
births was the highest in 21 years.
The sudden rise in the birthrate will

A total of 1.235 million babies were bom in Japan
in 1994.

increase the total fertility rate (TFR) to between
the 1.47-1.49 level. The TFR stood at 1.46 in
1993. The rate, which first fell below 2.0 in the
mid-1970s, has been falling steadily with the
declining birthrate.
With the release of the new figures, the
MOHW has predicted that the birthrate will
continue to increase as the children of the baby
boomers born between 1971 -1974 continue to
bear children. The ministry notes that since the
early 1990s, Japan has witnessed an increase in
the number of marriages as this new group of
adults comes of age. The ministry reported that
794,000 marriages took place in 1994, an
increase over 1993.
Prior to the release of the new birthrate
figures, the ministry had cited the trend for
couples to marry later as one of the factors
contributing to the decreasing TFR. The
ministry now says that the new figures indicate
that the number of couples marrying later may
now decrease — a factor that will continue to
increase the birthrate.

Some population experts, however, dispute
the government’s analysis, arguing that it is still
too early to tell whether the increase in the
number of babies bom is just a one-year
phenomenon. The experts caution that research
is needed to determine the causes of the change.
They warn that an improper analysis may skew
the government’s approach to the situation and
may adversely affect women and couples.
Another possible cause for the sudden rise
of births could be the effects of the
lingering economic recession in
Japan which has had a negative
impact on job opportunities for
women. Some analysts believe that
women, excluded from the work
force after the so-called “economic
bubble” burst in the early 1990s, are
now opting for child rearing.
Regardless of the cause, the
sudden increase in the birthrate is
being interpreted as a positive
phenomenon by the government.
The MOHW has been showing
increasing concern over the years
about the rapidly increasing aging of
Japan and the ability of the nation to
support a top-heavy society. The
government had predicted that Japan
would have the oldest society of the
world’s economic powers by the year
2025 when one in four people will be
65 years old or older. According to estimates,
Japan’s population will peak at 130 million in
2011 and drop to 112 million by the year 2050.
For the government and business circle, the
biggest fear of an aging society is the decrease
in the work force and growth in the number of
people on welfare. One response to the falling
birthrate has been the MOHW’s “Angel Plan.”
According to the ministry, the campaign seeks
to create an environment conducive to couples
bearing and rearing children. One of the aims
of the plan is to support mothers wishing to
work by establishing better day-care centers.
This new focus of the MOHW’s activities was
created in light of the growing number of
nuclear families in need of child care.
The ministry released other figures along
with the birthrate. Japan’s infant mortality rate,
already the lowest in the world, further declined
in 1994 to 4.2%c from 4.3%c in 1993. Divorces,
meanwhile, increased in 1994 to the highest
number on record at 195,000, an increase of
7,000 from the 188,000 of 1993.

6

Japan Taking
Active Role
JOICFP was among the 30 - 40 Japanese
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) taking
part in the NGO Forum of the World Summit
for Social Development, recently held in
Copenhagen,
Denmark. The
NGO Forum, held
from March 3-12,
was timed to
coincide with the
summit, held from
March 6-12. The
latter part of the
summit on Marc1'
11 and 12 was
attended by some 120 heads of state. It was
attended by Prime Minister of Japan Tomiichi
Murayama who led the Japanese delegation.
Prior to the summit, a preparatory
committee meeting was held in New York from
January 16-27. It was attended by
representatives of Japan including Masaichi
Yamashita, associate coordinator, Asian
Community Health Action Network (ACHAN).
Yamashita provided an outline of the New York
event at a regular meeting of the Council on
Population Education held at JOICFP on
February 24. The meeting was attended by 40
experts of the population and family planning
(FP) field of Japan.
In his report, Yamashita noted that the
Japanese
government has
expressed its
eagerness to
take an active
role in
implementing
the summit’s
program of
action. This
program was
discussed at the
Masaichi Yamashita
summit.
The summit
followed the Earth
Summit (UN Conference on Environment and
Development) held in Brazil in 1992 and the
International Conference on Population and
Development (ICPD) held in Egypt in 1994.
Another related conference, the 4th
International Conference for Women, is to be
held in Beijing, China, in September this year.
JOICFP NEWS, April 1995

Vietnam

Strengthening the Midwife’s
Role with Training

Masako Yamaguchi (left) explains use of
the Magnel Kit.

The midwife, a key person in the provision
Ox maternal and child health (MCH) care,
usually receives no refresher training in
Vietnam after the initial training course.
Despite the need to retrain these key health
agents in modern techniques, budget constraints
make it all but impossible for the government to
provide training without outside assistance.
Of those midwives working in Vietnam
today, a significant number did not receive the
full three years training, since midwives trained
between the difficult war years of 1963 and
1973 only received 18 months training.
Some good news did arrive for midwives in
January when the Vietnamese Association of
Midwives was established with Japanese
support. However, there remains a serious
shortage of these health professionals since
3,000 of the country’s 10,000 communes do not
a resident midwife.
A four-member mission from Japan
including two experts visited Vietnam in March
to provide urgently needed refresher midwifery
training to MCH staff of communes in Nghe An
and Ha Tinh provinces where JOICFP’s
Integrated Project (IP) is being implemented.

I

I
A midwife explains the maternity calendar
record-keeping system for checkups.

JOICFP NEWS, April 1995

The training was conducted from
March 1 - 3 in the MCH/FP Center,
Nghe An Province. The mission
included Tomoko lida, midwife, and
Masako Yamaguchi, midwife and
lecturer of midwifery, Ehime Medical
College. They were assisted in the
training by Vietnamese experts.
The midwives respond enthusiastically during the
Forty-seven health staff from 30
training course.
communes and three districts of the
two provinces took part in the training.
They included five general doctors, 20 assistant Vietnam (including menstrual regulation) by
doctors of obstetrics and gynecology, 21
promoting FP to avoid unwanted pregnancies.
midwives and one nurse.
One of the most popular presentations
Funding for the training was allocated by
during the training was a lecture on how to
the Japanese Ministry of Posts and
organize mothers’ classes in the community.
Telecommunications under the Postal Savings
The concept of prenatal and antenatal classes
for International Voluntary Aid (POSIVA)
for pregnant women, which make significant
scheme. In addition to covering training costs,
contributions to safe motherhood in Japan, was
POSIVA funds have been used to purchase
new to most of the Vietnamese participants.
commodities and equipment to strengthen the
Another key area of interest for the health staff
commune health centers in the two provinces.
was the lecture on pain relief during delivery
During the visit to Vietnam, the JOICFP
through the use of breathing exercises. This
mission monitored use of the donated items
was also a new concept for many.
which included such medical equipment as
In addition to Japan’s experiences, the
delivery beds, gynecological examination
tables, midwifery kits, IUD insertion kits,
stethoscopes and blood pressure-measuring
instruments. The funds have also been used to
purchase educational materials such as booklets
and the Magnel Kit.
By improving the level of training of the
health staff, JOICFP aims to strengthen the
quality of family planning (FP) and MCH care
provided at health centers. Since midwives are
the closest health professionals to mothers and
children at the village level, they are ideal
health agents to promote FP/MCH. Under the
project, midwives have been recruited to serve
A midwife demonstrates breathing exercises
as health agents to promote FP/MCH. POSIVA
for women to use during delivery.
funds will be used in the future to provide
midwives with FP/MCH home visit kits and
health volunteers with health kits for home
participants were introduced to the experiences
visits within the communes.
of Thailand with a film on care for newborns.
The concept of utilizing midwives to
On the third day, participants were given a
promote MCH/FP is based on the Japanese
presentation on use of the educational Magnel
postwar experience. During the population
Kit, an IEC material for reproductive health and
boom years of the 1940s and 1950s, midwives
FP education.
played a key role in improving MCH.
For most of the health professionals
increasing FP acceptance and reducing the
attending the three-day course, it was their first
incidence of induced abortion. Similarly, it is
refresher training. When asked if they would
hoped that midwives will play a role in
like to receive further training, all participants
reducing the high induced abortion rate in
gave an enthusiastic reply.
7

k

VOICE OF VOICES
By Chojiro Kunii

Mission from Taicang
A seven-member mission from the Taicang
IP Training Center in Jiangsu Province, China,
visited Japan recently. It was headed by the
vice mayor of the city. In the decade since the
first Integrated Project (IP) Seminar was held in
Taicang City we have made many friends there.
JOICFP organized an itinerary for the
mission in Japan on behalf of the Hoken Kaikan
group of health-care organizations. The
Chinese observed activities of the Tokyo Health
Service Association and Shizuoka Health
Service Association. During a visit to Taito
City in Tokyo, the group was given a briefing
by city officials on the city’s cooperation with
private organizations conducting health
examinations within the school health system.
They also joined a question and answer session.

The city emphasizes school children’s
health and cooperates with schools and parents
to promote its programs. The Chinese mission
was given a detailed explanation of the cost
sharing system for school health checkups
including information on the contribution made
by the city government to these activities.
In Japan, the school health administration
targets all children and students. In the past,
parents paid for health checkups, but these are
now covered by public funds.
Although there is not school health law
enforced in China as in Japan, the Taicang City
conducted mass parasite examinations on
40,000 elementary and junior high school
students in 1994. It was the first such mass
screening of students in China and was
welcomed by the city’s residents. Expenses for
the screening were paid by parents. The system
offers an excellent model for other countries in
Asia and Latin America to follow.
The mission from Taicang proposed
programs for 1995 during discussions at

JOICFP. I warmly welcome these proposals
which are not yet final. The Taicang officials
want to charge 3 yuan (36 U.S. cents at an
exchange rate of 8.4 yuan to US$1) for each
parasite examination. They are also planning to
extend services to the students’ parents.

Good News for Learning
JOICFP NEWS is being used as an
educational resource by students of Akita
Minami High School in Akita Prefecture. The
newsletter came to be used by the students after
they contributed to JOICFP’s fund-raising
Prepaid Card Campaign. In response to a
donation of cards, JOICFP forwarded a copy of
the newsletter to the students who welcomed it
as both an English-language resource and
source of information about international
cooperation activities.

JOICT'P ‘Women's Itfealtf and Status Series

DIARY

A New Animated Film
(■

C)
■ Peggy Curlin, president. Center for
Development and Population Activities (CEDPA), 0
()
visited JOICFP on Feb. 6 and 7 for information
o
exchange.
O
- Bernard Aluvihare, former deputy secretary
o
general, IPPF, visited JOICFP on Feb. 9 to
o
exchange information.
- Juan G. Santiago, deputy chief, Interregional & O
NGO Programs Branch, Technical and Evaluation O
Division, UNFPA, visited JOICFP on Feb. 10 to
O
discuss the Interregional activities of JOICFP.
O
- Bal Gopal, country director for Thailand,
()
Myanmar & Laos, UNFPA, visited JOICFP on Feb. o
10 and 11 to discuss project activities in Laos.
()
- Nicole Delperee. lawyer & gerontologist, Expert o
Council of Europe & WHO, visited JOICFP on
o
Feb. 15 to exchange information on FP and aging
o

issues. She was accompanied by Clara
Taniguchi.
-Five participants from South Africa of a JICAsponsored Community Health Services Seminar
attended a one-day seminar at JOICFP on the IP
in the African Region on Feb. 16.
- Twelve participants from 10 countries attended
the Seminar on Parasite Control Administration
for Senior Officers held in Tokyo from Jan. 30 Feb. 17. The seminar was entrusted by JICA and
conducted by JAPC in cooperation with JOICFP.
- Program Officer Ryoko Nishida and staff
member Mayumi Katsube were in Ghana from
Feb. 1 -19 and Feb. 4-19, respectively, to
conduct a situation analysis survey on population
and AIDS for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
to monitor the IP.

RAKHEE and MAUSEE
12 min., Color/English, Hindi, Bengali, Nepali

Education is a key to improving the health and
status of women. The process of change begins
with learning how to read and write. As women
use these skills to earn money, they gain the power
to make decisions for a better future.
RAKHEE AND MAUSEE is a joint Indian-Japanese
production and part of the women's health and
status series of animated films. The theme is early
marriage and the story concerns 14-year-old
RAKHEE whose fate is changed by an independent
woman called MAUSEE.

Distributed by

Mahler to Be Honored with UN Population Award

I
1

Dr. Halfdan Mahler, secretary general, IPPF, will be honored with the 1995 UN Population Award for
individuals in June. Mahler was nominated for his career in public health
including strong leadership in reproductive health, family planning (FP) and
global population issues. He served as director general of WHO from 19731988, taking up his present position with IPPF in 1989. Mahler made many
significant contributions to WHO and under his leadership the agency espoused
the concept of primary health care with FP and reproductive health as important
components. At IPPF, Mahler has provided new visions of how to address
population questions not only for IPPF but for other NGOs, UN agencies and
the donor community. He also played an important role in the 1994
Dr. Halfdan Mahler
International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo.
The Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health
of Women and Children (IAC) will also be honored with a UN Population Award for its work in fighting
traditional practices that are harmful to the health of women and children with special emphasis on female
genital mutilation (FGM). The regional African organization was founded in 1984.

8

Sakura Motion Picture Co., Ltd.
Yoyogi Center Bldg , 57-1 Yoyogi 1-chome
Shibuyo-ku. Tokyo 151, Japan
Tel: 81-3-33206311/Fax. 81-3-332O-7666

16mm-VTR (Beta, VHS/NTSC, PAL, SECAM)

JOICFP NEWS is a monthly newsletter published by
the Japanese Organization for International
Cooperation in Family Planning, Inc. (JOICFP).

JOICFP NEWS welcomes your comments,
suggestions and contributions. Please mail to:
JOICFP NEWS
Hoken Kaikan Bekkan
1-1, Ichigaya Sadohara-cho
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162 Japan
Phone: 81-3-3268-5875
Facsimile: 81-3-3235-7090

JOICFPNEWS, April 1995

Position: 3199 (3 views)