Population Action International

A World of Difference - Sexual and Reproductive Health & Risks

January 1, 2001

At the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994, 179 nations agreed on a plan to transform—and fund—reproductive health programs around the world. The ICPD examined the social context of population growth and size, moving away from simple birth control and people-counting toward a broader approach to the reproductive health and rights of women and men. The final conference document calls for universal access to a package of basic reproductive health services, as well as for specific measures to foster human development, with particular attention to the social, economic and health status of women. A central premise is that population programs should be based on individual needs, not on demographic targets, and that family planning programs should be integrated with other community-based efforts to improve maternal and child health, enhance women's status, and prevent HIV transmission and other infectious diseases.

In A World of Difference: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Risks, Population Action International (PAI) continues its effort to measure the progress of nations toward achieving the goals set at ICPD. The accompanying wallchart ranks 133 countries, representing 95 percent of the world's population, on a Reproductive Risk Index (RRI) composed of 10 key indicators of sexual and reproductive health. The study documents the vast disparities between rich and poor countries and the urgent need to accelerate progress in this area.