EU envoy presses Manila to ratify RH bill
By Michaela P. del Callar 08/02/2010 European Union’s top diplomat to Manila has urged the Aquino administration to certify the immediate ratification of the reproductive health bill and to live up to its international pledge to promote maternal health under the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDG). EU Ambassador Alistair MacDonald said rapid population growth in the Philippines has been draining the country of its economic resources and continues to hamper the nation’s development. “The Philippine government has committed itself to the MDG and several of these MDGs require that maternal mortality is reduced and that child mortality is reduced and people generally have effective access to reproductive health services. It’s the Philippine government that signed up to that,” MacDonald told the Tribune in an interview. The MDGs are time-bound, concrete and specific goals that 189 world leaders committed to achieving by 2015 in September 2000. These goals are: 1) end extreme poverty and hunger; 2) achieve universal primary education; 3) promote gender equality and empower women; 4) reduce child mortality; 5) improve maternal health; 6) combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; 7) ensure environmental sustainability; and 8) develop a global partnership for development. The Philippines continues to lag behind in implementing these goals..... MORE Source: The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20100802nat1.html |
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