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  • Title: From Bucharest to Mexico.
    Author: Sai FT.
    Journal: IPPF Med Bull; 1985 Feb; 19(1):3-4. PubMed ID: 12339970.
    Abstract:
    There were marked differences between the views expressed at the 1974 Bucharest World Population Conference and those expressed at the 1984 Mexico City World Population Conference. At the 1974 conference there was considerable disagreement between delegates who emphasized the need to control population growth directly through the development of effective family planning policies and programs and other delegates who argued that a decline in fertility would occur automatically in response to vigorous development programs. By 1984 most participants had acquired a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between development and population growth, and most recognized the need to develop comprehensive family planning programs and policies. Ironically, the US, which in 1974 had taken a strong family planning stance, reversed its position, and in 1984 adovacated the less popular developmental approach. The 1974 participants did affirm that all couples and individuals had the right to freely limit and space their children, but the 1984 participants adopted specific recommendations to promote and strengthen family planning initiatives. They recommended that governments make all appropriate and medically approved family planning methods available to all couples and individuals, and especially to the most vulnerable and most difficult to reach segments of their populations, that governemnts ensure that all children have the opportunity to grow up in healthy and supportive environments, and that public and private organizations use their resources to help governments meet these goals. They further recommended that governments 1) improve the quality, effectiveness and safety of their family planning programs 2) utilize all appropriate and available channels to promote the delivery of family planning services, 3) provide family life, sex education, and appropriate family planning services for both male and female adolescents; 4) ensure that all couples and individuals have the right to freely and responsibly limit and space their children, and 5) refrain from using any family planning strategies which are coercive or discriminatory. The delegates also called on governments to translate family planning goals into specific policies and operational activities and to develop policies to help parents meet their child rearing responsibilities, to improve child welfare and child care services, to promote the establishment of adequate maternity and paternity leaves, and to help parents acquire suitable housing. Delegates also recognized the need to formulate development policies which supported each country's population policies, advocated upgrading the status of women, and dealt with the problem of maternal mortality. After considerable discussion, the participants recommended that abortion should not be promoted as a family planning method, but that women who have abortions should be treated humanely and provided with counseling. Many delegates from the developing countries criticized the conference for failing to deal adequately with the issue of funding. Many countries lack the resources needed to implement the conference's recommendations.
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