Supporting efforts to end obstetric fistula
A/RES/67/147
South-South cooperation, in support of national plans and strategies in sectors such
as health, education, gender equality, energy, water and sanitation, poverty
eradication and nutrition as a way to reduce the number of maternal, newborn and
under-five child deaths,
Welcoming also ongoing partnerships between stakeholders at all levels
to address the multifaceted determinants of maternal, newborn and child health in
close coordination with Member States based on their needs and priorities and
the commitments to accelerate progress on the health-related Millennium
Development Goals,
Reaffirming the renewed and reinforced commitments made by Member States
for achieving Millennium Development Goal 5,
1.
Recognizes the interlinkages between poverty, lack of or inadequate
access to health-care services, early childbearing and child marriage as root causes
of obstetric fistula, that poverty remains the main social risk factor and that the
eradication of poverty is critical to meeting the needs and rights of women and girls,
and calls upon States, in collaboration with the international community, to take
action to address the situation;
Stresses the need to address the social issues that contribute to the
2.
problem of obstetric fistula, such as poverty, lack of or inadequate education for
women and girls, lack of access to health-care services, including sexual and
reproductive health-care services, early childbearing, child marriage and the low
status of women and girls;
Calls upon States to take all measures necessary to ensure the right of
3.
women and girls to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health,
including sexual and reproductive health, and reproductive rights, in accordance
with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and
Development,3 and to develop sustainable health systems and social services with a
view to ensuring access to such systems and services without discrimination, while
paying special attention to adequate food and nutrition, water and sanitation, family
planning information, increasing knowledge and awareness and ensuring equitable
access to high-quality appropriate prenatal and delivery care for the prevention of
obstetric fistula and the reduction of health inequities, as well as postnatal care for
the detection and early management of fistula cases;
Also calls upon States to ensure the right to education for women and
4.
girls, of good quality, on an equal basis with men and boys and to ensure that they
complete a full course of primary education, and to renew their efforts to improve
and expand girls’ and women’s education at all levels, including at the secondary
and higher levels, and including age-appropriate sex education, as well as vocational
education and technical training, in order to, inter alia, achieve gender equality, the
empowerment of women and girls and poverty eradication;
Urges States to enact and strictly enforce laws to ensure that marriage,
5.
including in rural and remote areas, is entered into only with the free and full
consent of the intending spouses and, in addition, to enact and strictly enforce laws
concerning the minimum legal age of consent and the minimum age for marriage,
and to raise the minimum age for marriage where necessary;
Calls upon the international community to provide intensified technical
6.
and financial support, in particular to high-burden countries, to accelerate progress
towards the achievement of Millennium Development Goal 5 and the elimination of
obstetric fistula;
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