This brochure provides brief introduction of UNFPA in Asia and the Pacific (APRO), and its priorities – including safe motherhood, family planning, HIV prevention, adolescents’ health, women’s rights, and data for development – to support the attainment of the eight MDGs.

 

UNFPA’s work is guided by the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for 2015. Each provides benchmarks for national efforts to reduce poverty, promote health and gender equality, and protect the environment.

 

Central to the ICPD vision is the goal of universal access to reproductive health, so that all can exercise their rights to choose the number and spacing of their children, deliver safely and avoid HIV infection. Enabling couples and individuals to manage their fertility, the ICPD agreed, is critical to alleviating poverty. It also recognized that gender equality is a human right, and empowering women is essential for advancing development.