Institutional Development in Population and Reproductive Health, focus of new publication

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Country Technical Services Team (CST) in Bangkok and Kathmandu recently released a publication entitled Achieving the MDGs in Asia: Policies and Strategies for Institutional Development in Population and Reproductive Health.
Based on a technical background paper prepared for the second Regional MDG Report for Asia, the publication discusses policies and strategies for institutional change in population and reproductive health that are necessary if Asian countries are to achieve the MDGs.
“Despite the evidence that health-related MDGs are indeed achievable, many countries in Asia are not on track to realize them. Reviews of progress made towards achieving these goals have recognized the importance of institutional factors. A pattern has emerged: successful countries pay attention to institutional development. Yet most national MDG reports focus on programmatic initiatives, but do not adequately address institutional issues concerning their effective implementation”, state Wasim Zaman and G. Giridhar in a foreword to the publication, respectively Director UNFPA CST for South and West Asia and Director UNFPA CST for East and South-East Asia.
The publication aims precisely at exploring these concerns further. Part I of the publication discusses the importance of institutional change; part II provides an overview on institutional challenges in population and RH, examining attempts by three very different Asian countries (Bangladesh, China and the Philippines) to achieve the health-related MDGs; while part III concludes with a plea for greater attention to and investment for institutional development.
Among the key messages highlighted by the publication are:
Improving reproductive health is critical for achieving MDGs. Although the MDGs contain no explicit goal on reproductive health, three health-related goals – on child mortality, maternal health and HIV/AIDS – are directly related to reproductive health; also the goal on gender is a key correlate of reproductive health;
Technologies to achieve the health-related MDGs are available. Despite the evidence that it can be done, most countries in Asia are not on track to achieve the health-related MDGs. Most reviews of progress made towards achieving them recognize that countries need to address institutional issues.