sex positions | Page 2

up by deeds. The
governments of Europe and other developed countries have
not met their financial targets. It is estimated that between
1996 and 2001, only 35% of the money promised by
developed nations was delivered.
10
The consequences of failing to act are disastrous.
More unintended pregnancies, more unsafe abortions, higher
maternal deaths, more infant and child mortalities and more
illness and death caused by sexually transmitted infections,
including HIV/AIDS.
“Annual assistance for population and reproductive health
programmes is nearly US$3 billion short of the level agreed
at the ICPD.
11It is urgent that donor countries increase not
just their official development aid but also the proportion
that goes to reproductive health and rights in particular.”
Thoraya Obaid, Executive Director, UNFPA, 2004
10 Population Action International. 2004.
11 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Cairo 1994.
In 1994, at the International Conference
on Population Development (ICPD), 179
countries agreed an action plan to bring
sexual and reproductive health services
to all by 2015.
HIV/AIDS
BROKEN
PROMISES=
MORE
WWW.INTERACTWORLDWIDE.ORG
WWW.MARIESTOPES.ORG.UK
UNINTENDED PREGNANCIES
UNSAFE ABORTIONS
INFANT & CHILD MORTALITIES
MATERNAL DEATHSSEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS
Get active: ‘Sex: what position will youadopt?’

SEXUAL
HEALING
SUPPORTING SEXUAL &
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

IN EGYPT
EVERY US $1
INVESTED IN
FAMILY PLANNING
SAVES US $31
ON OTHER
HEALTH SERVICES
“The eradication of extreme poverty and hunger cannot be
achieved if questions of sexual and reproductive health are
not squarely addressed.”
Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General, 2004.
World development and poverty reduction starts with sexual
and reproductive health and rights:
• when people can plan their families, each child is more
likely to be wanted. Smaller families mean parents have
more time and resources to devote to each child
• without basic reproductive health services, women will
continue to die unnecessarily just because they are
pregnant. And more babies and young children will lose
their mothers and be placed at greater risk of dying in
infancy themselves
• investing in sex education and safer sex awareness
programmes is the best way stop more people getting
infected with HIV/AIDS
• young people are most at risk from unplanned pregnancies,
unsafe abortion, sexually transmitted infections and sexual
violence. By investing in sexual health services and
education, these risks can be dramatically reduced.
Sexual health services are cost effective too. In Latin America,
every dollar spent on family planning saves the government
US$12 in health and education costs. In Egypt, every US$1
invested in family planning saves the government more than
US$31 in spending on other health services.
12
“Sexual and reproductive health is so central as a human
right. It improves people’s lives, gives them control, and lets
them take up educational, economic and political
opportunities. It contributes to reducing poverty, reduces
inequality between men and women, and – if the right social
policies are also in place – enables economic growth.”
Hilary Benn MP, Secretary of State for International Development, 2004.
12 Alan Guttmacher Institute and UNFPA. 2003. Adding It Up, the Benefits of Investing
in Sexual and Reproductive Health Care.
WWW.INTERACTWORLDWIDE.ORG
WWW.MARIESTOPES.ORG.UK
Get active: ‘Sex: what position will youadopt?’

DANGEROUS
SEX POSITIONS
POLITICS
& RELIGION

Two examples of the growing opposition to sexual and
reproductive health for all:
Bondage –US government policy is systematically
undermining support for comprehensive sexual
and reproductive health programmes in the
developing world.
Since 2001, the US government has withdrawn funding from
hundreds of local sexual health organisations working in
some of the world’s poorest areas because they continue
to advise and counsel on abortion.
Under the so called ‘gag rule’, the US government refuses
to give aid to any foreign organisation offering abortion
services, counselling on abortion, or even simply mentioning
abortion as one of a range of options.
Local non government organisations (NGOs) either accept
US aid and agree to be gagged, or refuse to be bound by the
gag rule and lose vital finances:
• Marie Stopes International: Ethiopia(MSI: Ethiopia) used
to receive around US$450,000 a year from the US Agency
for International Development (USAID) to run community
based sexual health programmes. Because it refused
to sign the gag rule, MSI: Ethiopia now receives nothing
and has had to cut services
• with the support of Interact Worldwide,the Bangladesh
Women’s Health Coalition was planning a new adolescent
health centre in a tribal area. These plans were dropped
after the gag rule caused proposed funding to be
withdrawn, leaving thousands without access to modern
health services
• in Romania, where abortion is legal and common, the
Societatea de Educatie Contraceptiva si Sexuala(SECS)
used money from USAID to increase the use of modernand reproductive health in developing countries in 2002.
Some of the damage was undone the following year,
but it’s evidence that such views have both power and
support and may yet prevail
• in April 2004, a report by the European Parliament’s
Foreign Affairs Committee (calling for recognition of sexual
and reproductive health as a human right) had to be
watered down because of strong opposition from
conservative forces
• there is now a conservative majority in the European
Parliament, following the 2004 elections across an enlarged
European Union. Some influential member states have
strongly conservative views on sexual and reproductive
health, influenced both by the Vatican and the current US
administration. The Chair of the Women’s Committee, for
example, is staunchly anti-choice and has claimed that
AIDS is God’s vengeance for homosexuality. This could
affect the balance of views across Europe as a whole and
threaten continuing European funding for sexual and
reproductive health programmes.
The danger: Europe is traditionally one of the largest