GUEST BLOGGER: JEN KALAIDIS
From a Delegates Perspective: the 43rd session of the UN Commission on Population and Development
By Jen Kalaidis
The 43rd session of the United Nation’s Commission on Population and Development, entitled “Health, Morbidity, and Mortality,” met April 12-16, 2010 in New York City.
The main focus of this year’s Commission addressed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and their likelihood of success as the 2015 deadline draws near. While reports indicate that countries made commendable progress in areas such as eradicating extreme poverty and hunger and reducing childhood mortality rates, much of the progress varies by region. Many middle-income countries, such as Brazil, South Africa, India and China have succeeded in cutting the proportion of inhabitants living in extreme poverty, despite the growing income disparities. The least developed countries (LDCs), particularly those in Sub-Saharan Africa, however, are falling short of these goals.
While the Committee noted that there is still much work to be done to achieve those particular MGDs, it focused more heavily on two other goals, improving Maternal Health and Promoting Gender Equality/Empowering Women, two shortcomings which transcend regional borders.
One of the most effective means to improve maternal health is increasing the accessibility to affordable and quality healthcare. This means that a woman needs to have the option of seeing a primary care physician throughout the term of her pregnancy to guarantee the healthy progress of both herself and her unborn child. Currently many women do not get this support. They may see a physician only for delivery or, in many cases, not at all. Building more hospitals, especially in rural areas, along with devising a more progressive universal health care plan, are a few of the realistic means proposed by the Commission to achieve this MGD.
Another component to improving global maternal health is increasing reproductive health education and accessibility. While these programs would be much less expensive than expanding primary care, they face many cultural and religious boundaries. Women speaking openly about their questions about sexual health remains taboo in many regions of the world. Thus, many women are unable to receive education about sexual health or receive family planning services that would increase maternal health.
Similar cultural barriers also threaten the achievement of the other MGD, Promoting Gender Equality/Empowering Women. Despite the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the de jure guarantee of gender equalities, many women from all parts of the world are treated as second-class citizens. In large families, the sons go to school and the daughters stay home, which perpetuates the second-class citizenship of women. Additionally, employment across the globe is gendered, where women receive significantly less remunerations for the labor than men. The Commission did take into consideration cultural sensitivities, but it advocated for giving each country and each woman the option to participate in programs that promoted gender equality and the empowerment of women.
Another significant topic of this year’s commission was the rise in non-communicable diseases overtaking communicable diseases as the leading cause of global mortality (60% of all deaths are now due to non-communicable diseases). While life expectancies are rising in most of the world, this trend is problematic for countries’ continuing development because it leads to populations who are less healthy, less productive, and who are draining their countries budget by skyrocketing medical costs.
The Commission traced the roots of this trend to new agricultural practices coupled with urbanization and industrialization. Rapid industrialization has changed the way food is produced, which directly affects the availability of foods. Individuals used to eat locally grown food, with an emphasis on grains, vegetables, and legumes, with meat seen as more of a luxury. Yet, due to factory farming and increased exports/imports, individuals today have a diet that is high in meat and diary and low in whole grains and vegetables. Additionally, populations now consume more sweetened beverages due to water scarcity and decreased prices.
The more sedentary lifestyle associated with urbanization also contributes to the increased mortality rates from non-communicable diseases. As more and more people are moving into cities and industries are moving away from manual labor, people are becoming less active. These new trends in food consumption, diet, and lifestyle play a large role in increased rates of obesity, which leads to many of the above mentioned non-communicable diseases.
While these new trends remain problematic, the good news is that non-communicable diseases are preventable. Barry Pompkin, Professor of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and author of the book The World is Fat, presented many solutions to combat mortality rates due to non-communicable diseases. Pompkin’s approach stressed prevention over curing, and he proposed many ideas how to reverse the trends. For one, Pomkin stressed the importance of education to make people more aware of what they are eating and how it affects their health. While he did not propose any significant reforms in subsidies, he did advocate for a more regulatory governments to help promote good health. He cites many effective initiatives done by the French and British governments to help reduce the consumption of unhealthy diets. Both countries prohibit or limit the accessibility of sweetened beverages in schools, as well as provide healthy meals. Additionally, France prohibits television advertisements for young children to try to reduce the demand for unhealthy products. Many governments are also pressuring corporations to exclude many additives and preservatives that have an adverse affect on health.
In short, the 43rd Commission of Population and Development, entitled “Health, Morbidity, and Mortality”, focused specifically on the two MGDs of improving maternal health and promoting gender equality, as well as analyzed the new trend of the highest rates of global mortality being attributed to non-communicable diseases. Working towards ameliorating these problematic trends, then, would lead to healthier, more productive societies that would make achieving all the MGDs, as well as development more broadly, more likely.