• Nepal in ICPD 1994 ?

Nepal participated in ICPD 1994 and was elected as vice-chairman of the Main Committee. Dr Bal Gopal Baidya represented the main committee.

• Which policy and legal provision of the Nepal Government attract ICPD ?

The Nepal new constitution and the Act aim to promote equity and ensure non-discrimination so that all citizens, irrespective of caste, ethnicity, religion, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity, can exercise their fundamental rights. Some of the major policies and provisions of the Nepal Government that attract commitment at ICPD 1944 and ICDP 25, 2019 are:

1. Nepal Health Sector Strategy 2015-2020
2. Right to Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Act 2018
3. Nepal Safe Motherhood and Newborn Health Programme Roadmap 2030

• What are the recommitments of ICPD on its 25th anniversary ?

After twenty-five years of ICPD (1994) in Cairo, the global community met for the Nairobi Summit known as ICPD+25 in November 2019 in Nairobi, Kenya to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Cairo conference at the same time the international community was working towards meeting the UN's Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The ICPD+25 recommitments are as follows:

1. Achieve the three zeros:
   • Zero unmet need for family planning;
   • Zero preventable maternal death;
   • Zero gender-based violence and harmful practices, including child marriage.
2. Ensure young people can exercise their SRHR by expanding adolescent-friendly services and comprehensive sexuality education (CSE).
3. Ensure that the basic humanitarian needs of affected populations, including sexual and reproductive health care and gender-based violence prevention and response services, are addressed in humanitarian contexts.
4. Put in place financing policies, instruments and structures to ensure the full implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action and the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Hon’ble Ms. Tham Maya Thapa, Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizen, attended on behalf of the Government of Nepal and presented the Statement at the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25.

• How is ICPD linked with SDGs ?

Out of 17 Goals of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the two goals have a linkage with the PoA of the ICPD.

SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

Target 3.1: Reduce maternal mortality rate to 70 per 100,000 live births

Target 3.7: Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health care services, including family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes

SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

Target 5.1: End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere

Target 5.3: Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation

Target 5.6: Ensure universal access to SRHR as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of ICPD and the Beijing Platform for Action, and the outcomes documents of their review conference

• How does the local and federal government work to achieve the goals of ICPD ?

Some of the legal provisions that bind the local and federal governments to protect the sexual and reproductive health of women and girls are:

1. The federal government shall allocate budget an annual budget to its respective local-level government for the purpose of maternal and reproductive health services as per the federal law
2. In order to protect the reproductive health of women who are mentally disabled, rejected by their family or relatives, and raped, the federal, provincial and local levels shall make necessary arrangements in mutual coordination to keep such women in protective homes.
3. The local government shall provide financial support for maternal and reproductive health to economically disadvantaged women as specified in its budget.
4. The local government shall allocate the necessary budget for the purpose of maternal and reproductive health services in its annual budget.
5. The local government shall allocate the budget in a way that the government and/or community health institutions shall receive funds for maternal and reproductive health services.

• What is the tangible impact of ICPD in Nepal ?

There are tangible impacts after ICPD in Nepal as below:
The pregnancy-related mortality ratio has come down from 660 (1995) to 239 (2021)

- The births attended by skilled health personnel have increased from 9% (1996) to 60.9% (2021). 

- The total fertility rate has decreased from 4.6 (1996) to 2.0 (2021).

- The adolescent fertility rate has decreased from 127 (1996) to 63 (2021).

- The modern contraceptive prevalence rate has gone up from 26.0% (1996)to 44.2% (2021). 

- The unmet need for family planning has slightly dropped from 32% (1996) to 23.7% (2016).

- The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology revised the national curriculum for grades 4 to 12, incorporating the major components of Comprehensive Sexuality Education.

• What are the major barriers to achieving the goals of ICPD in Nepal ?

The below outlines the major barriers:

• Lack of accountability in leadership and bureaucrats in the implementation of policy, program and plans.
• Lack of access to health services and personnel in all geographical terrain of Nepal.
• Lack of quality to services as per minimum standards, quality also varies with geographical terrain.
• Lack of enough skilled health professionals and those who are skilled are urban-centred and/or leave the country for better opportunities.
• Prevailing gender-recriminating social norms and practices.
• Social Stigma for contraceptives. E.g. Finding a contraceptive at home is treated more sinful than being unplanned pregnant.
  To build the capacity of the country to manage the logistics of medical supplies of all types including RH commodities.
• Maintaining the quality of supplies due to a combination of climatic conditions and an insecure supply chain that exposes goods to deterioration.
• funding for family planning programmes has declined even as demand for such services has increased due to an increase in the number of people entering the reproductive ages and increasing demand for contraceptive choice
• Adolescents and young people constitute the largest ever cohort in Nepal, yet they have limited or no access to secondary and/or vocational education, or decent employment, and are denied access to information, counselling and services on reproductive and sexual health