ICPD25: Leaders commit to ending maternal deaths, violence against women by 2030

World leaders at ICPD25 have begun to unveil their commitments to end preventable maternal death and stop violence against women and girls by 2030.

During the three-day Nairobi Summit, they also undertook to meet all women’s demand for family planning.

“Since the Cairo ICPD, we have put women and girls at the center of global development. This has paid off time and again. That ICPD vision is still far from reality, and that journey that began 25 years ago in Cairo is far from over,” UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem said.

“It’s now time to finish that unfinished business,” she added.

The Nairobi summit is taking place 25 years after the landmark International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), in Cairo, where 179 governments adopted an action plan for women’s empowerment and sexual and reproductive health for all.

Since the inaugural ICPD, gains have been made in strengthening maternal health care and expanding access to quality contraceptive information and services.

But there are still many who have not benefited from these gains, with more than 800 women dying during pregnancy and childbirth every day and 232 million women wanting to prevent pregnancy but not using a modern contraceptive.

The summit aims to tackle these problems as well as put a stop to gender-based violence, child marriage and female genital mutilation.

“The bold, rights-based vision of the ICPD – that development must put people first, that attention must be paid to strengthening equal access to health, education, and human dignity for all persons – anticipated the bold, ambitious vision of the 2030 Agenda,” said United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed.

“As critical accelerators for the Sustainable Development Goals, the outcomes of ICPD must be carried forward. The success of the global agenda for sustainable development, our common framework for people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership, depends on it,” she added.

“Among Kenya’s many commitments are actions to accelerate equality, equitable access and availability of reproductive health service for women and girls,” said Kenya’s Principal Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Macharia Kamau.

“We will continue to be among the major donors in the world in support of the ICPD Agenda: in particular of women and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights,” said Denmark’s Minister for Development Cooperation Rasmus Prehn.

“Denmark will continue to work at the very front together with partners. If we want to reach the 2030 agenda, we must fulfill the promise of Cairo.”

Hosted by the Governments of Denmark and Kenya and UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, the summit is mobilizing the political will and securing the financial commitments urgently needed to make sexual and reproductive health a reality for everyone, everywhere