UN Paper by ICRW Experts Examines Women’s and Adolescent Health

A new United Nations paper authored by International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) experts examines progress in women’s and adolescent health and mortality in an effort to educate a wide audience – from government officials to the general public – on key demographic issues.

Written by Suzanne Petroni, ICRW’s senior director of gender, population and development, and Katherine Fritz, director of global health, the paper will be reviewed during the upcoming Commission on Population and Development (CPD) gathering April 7-14 in New York.

Titled “Improving the Health of Women and Adolescents: An Unfinished Agenda,” the document is one of a series of expert papers that grew out of an expert group meeting convened last October by the UN Population Division. The purpose of the gathering was to inform preparations for the April CPD session.

In light of the 20^th anniversary of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), the commission’s 2014 theme focuses on assessing the status and implementation of the ICPD’s 20-year Program of Action. Sometimes referred to as the Cairo Consensus, the Program of Action was groundbreaking for its recognition that reproductive health and rights, as well as women’s empowerment and gender equality, are all cornerstones of population and development programs.

In their paper, Petroni and Fritz examine progress in the areas of women’s health and mortality, which were at the center of the Program of Action. They also address other issues in women’s health, including gender-based violence. Finally, the authors review health and mortality in adolescence and call for more attention during this phase of life, as it greatly influences wellbeing throughout adulthood.