The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) was a 1994 meeting in Cairo where 179 governments adopted a Programme of Action calling for women’s reproductive health and rights to be central in national and global development efforts.
Specifically, the Programme of Action called for all people to have access to comprehensive reproductive health care, including voluntary family planning, safe pregnancy and childbirth services, and the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections. It also recognised reproductive health and women’s empowerment are intertwined, and both are necessary for the advancement of society.
The United Nations Population Fund believes that partnership with parliamentarians is vital to build support for the ICPD Programme of Action. Because parliamentarians act as the bridge between the people and their government, they are instrumental in advocating for the rights and needs of the people. By enacting and improving relevant laws and policies, parliamentarians help to create an enabling environment for the achievement of the ICPD goals. They also play a critical role in mobilizing necessary resources.
In November 2019, the governments of Kenya and Denmark and UNFPA co-convened the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 as a high-level conference to mobilise the political will and financial commitments needed to fully implement the ICPD Programme of Action. The Nairobi Summit sought to re-energize the global community, breathing new life into the ICPD agenda and sustaining and amplifying gains made since 1994.