Damascus, SANA_ The UNFPA population report focused on the decline of reproductive health indicators at the level of some states, attributing this to the connection of the primary care and maternal reproductive health with the economic status of the family.

The Fund has chosen an issue which concerns all countries, especially the developing ones, where the population problems are clearly evident in these countries. Studies and reports conducted by the fund have shown a clear correlation between the financial status of the family and the extent of its benefiting from reproductive health services and family planning.

On the reality of reproductive health in Syria and the measures taken by the government to improve health indicators, Head of the Syrian Commission for Family and Population Affairs, Dr. Akram al-Qash said that Syria is one of the countries that provide primary care services, including reproductive health, in comparison to other countries, emphasizing that the rise in indicators of reproductive health in Syria before the crisis is an evidence on that.

Al-Qash said that the basic approach to work on development issues is to empower women economically and broaden their knowledge to be able to build their attitudes and behavior and to meet their needs of health services if material cost needed.

He pointed out that the crisis in Syria negatively affected the indicators of reproductive health due to the lack of access to health centers and clinics and the destruction of many of them due to terrorism and the migration of cadres.

Al-Qash said that the Commission, in collaboration with various ministries and sides concerned, is currently evaluating development indicators to reach an interventionist population policy regarding issues of primary health care; “The government continues to provide medical and educational services despite difficulties and challenges.”

He explained that the interventionist population policy in which the Commission is working with the various concerned authorities and ministries aims to identify the gaps and fill them to return the health indicators to what they were before the crisis.

Unless inequality is urgently tackled and the poorest women empowered to make their own decisions about their lives, countries could face unrest and threats to peace and development, the UNFPA report said.

The costs of inequalities, including in sexual and reproductive health and rights, could extend to the entire global community’s goals, added the new UNFPA report, entitled, “Worlds Apart: Reproductive Health and Rights in an Age of Inequality.”

Failure to provide reproductive health services, including family planning, to the poorest women can weaken economies and sabotage progress towards the number one sustainable development goal, to eliminate poverty, the report included.

“Inequality in countries today is not only about the haves and have nots,” UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem says.

“Inequality is increasingly about the cans and cannots. Poor women who lack the means to make their own decisions about family size or who are in poor health because of inadequate reproductive health care dominate the ranks of the cannots.”

UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled. UNFPA reaches millions of women and young people in 155 countries and territories.

H.Zain/Ghossoun