Welcome to the NZPPD information service, providing updates on NZPPD and other parliamentarian group activities, as well as the latest news on population and development.

Director of Health Workforce New Zealand briefs NZPPD

NZPPD members were pleased to receive an update on the progress of midwifery exchanges in the Pacific by the Director of Health Workforce NZ, Brenda Wraight. This initiative is a direct result of a recommendation made in Making Maternal Health Matter, NZPPD’s report on the Open Hearing on Maternal Health. The exchanges aim to help address MDGs 4 and 5 by improving the quality and quantity of skilled midwives in the Pacific Islands and providing them with ongoing support. Consultation on the draft proposal is currently underway.

Chair speaks at UNANZ lunchtime forum

NZPPD chair Dr Jackie Blue recently spoke at a lunchtime forum hosted by the United Nations Association of New Zealand (UNANZ) as part of a series looking at the Millennium Development Goals in the Pacific. Dr Blue spoke about MDG5, NZPPD’s work to improve maternal health in the region and her experience as a delegate on the study tour to the Solomon Islands organised by Family Planning International.

Save the date: 28th October

This year the world’s population will tip 7 billion. Family Planning International will be holding an event, in cooperation with NZPPD members and UNFPA, to mark this occasion in the morning of the 28th of October. Invites will follow shortly.

Mock Parliament for Women held in Kiribati

Thirteen women from Tarawa and seventeen women from the outer islands of Kiribati recently gathered for a mock parliament ahead of the 2011 national elections. Supported by UNDP and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in partnership with the Kiribati Department of Women and the Kiribati Parliament the three day parliamentary training for potential candidates was followed by a two day Mock Parliament for women. It was the first such initiative in the Pacific, and a video outlining participants’ experience can be viewed here.

Slow uptake of free Chlamydia treatment in Rarotonga

Not enough people have taken up free Chlamydia treatment in Rarotonga according to the Cook Islands’ Ministry of Health. The mass treatment for Chlamydia started last week yet only half the target number of people was reached. A Ministry of Health study done four years ago found between 35 and 40 percent of people under 25 years old in the Cook Islands are infected.

YWCA launches 'Pacific Young Women's Leadership Strategy'

The YWCA World Council in Zurich launched the 'Safe. Respected. Included. Connected. Skilled: A Pacific Young Women's Leadership Strategy' in early August. The strategy was developed after consultations with young women in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, Australia, Solomon Islands and New Zealand, with remote input from Tonga and Bougainville. A reference group of representatives from regional organisations and UN agencies also provided valuable input. The report highlights five key areas for work one of which is sexual and reproductive health and rights. You can download the full report here.

Historic U.N Maternal Death Case Hearing

In the first-ever maternal death case to be decided by an international human rights body, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women established that government have a human rights obligation to guarantee that all women in their countries – regardless of income or racial background – have access to timely, non-discriminatory, and appropriate maternal health services. The case refers to Alyne da Silva Pimentel who died in 2002 after being denied basic medical care to address complications in her pregnancy. She was 28 years old and her death was completely preventable. Full story available here.

India becoming a donor?

Having received about US$55 billion in foreign aid in the past forty years, India is on the verge of setting up its own aid-giving body. The government is in ‘active discussions’ to create an India Agency for Partnership in Development (IAPD), and Delhi think-tank RIS believe the body will be announced within months, and given US$11.3billion to spend over the next five years. According to a new report by Global Humanitarian Assistance, between 2005-2008 (pre financial crisis) aid from non-DAC countries rose by 143% to US$11.2 billion. Full story available here.

Gender equality leads to more sex

Equality leads to more sex. That’s the gist of a new study about the sexual marketplace that used global data and found there’s more sex in countries with higher gender equality than in those with less. The idea, says Roy Baumeister of Florida State University, is that men want sex more than women do (on average) and that sex in a relationship begins when women decide it's time. Supply and demand rule, so whichever sex is more scarce has more power. The theory focuses on heterosexual interactions only. "If women don't have many opportunities to make money on their own, they need the value of sex to be as high as possible," Baumeister says. "When women don't have other opportunities, sex is the main thing she has to offer." Full story available here.