Putting the ICPD Plan of Action to work. Turkey. Women's health tops the agenda
Akin, A.; Koseli, A.
Entre Nous 1995(28-29): 6-7
1995
ISSN/ISBN: 1014-8485 PMID: 12222267 Document Number: 248384
Turkey took part in the preparatory phase of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and sent 15 delegates to ICPD in Cairo. Its Ministry of Health (MOH) identified priority areas outlined in the ICPD Plan of Action: publicizing ICPD goals, sharing responsibilities and coordinating activities with other sectors, and following-up and monitoring achievements and failures. ICPD delegates served on an MOH-organized panel that provided many participants from different sectors in Turkey and representatives of MOH technical departments with valuable information about ICPD and its Plan of Action. They also discussed targets and strategies to implement ICPD recommendations. At a two-day conference for the scientific community, MOH and ICPD delegates announced the results of the 1993 Turkish Demographic Health Survey and summarized ICPD and its Plan of Action. Participants in a meeting of the Turkish Medical Association asked that the ICPD Plan of Action be published in Turkish. So GD MCH/FP translated, printed, and distributed chapters dealing with reproductive health, women's status, and mortality and morbidity. At the Population Planning Advisory Committee's annual meeting in January 1995, every government ministry made a commitment to be responsible for implementing the Plan. The government has incorporated recommendations and guidelines from ICPD into the Seventh National 5-Year Development Plan. Turkey needs to do much work in promoting decentralization of health services. Expanded and improved family planning services are geared to reduce demand for abortion, resulting in almost no induced abortion-related mortality. National and international follow-up mechanisms to ICPD will allow countries to monitor their progress, or lack of it, and share in each other's experiences.