ACCESS for SUCCESS Blue Wristbands

Click here to download or print out the ACCESS for SUCCESS information flyer.

At the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), 179 country leaders agreed that all countries should take appropriate measures to ensure:

Universal access to education, with special attention to closing the gender gap in primary and secondary education; and

Universal access to health care services, including those related to reproductive health care, namely family planning and sexual health.

18 Members of the European Parliament sent a letter to individual heads of World Summit delegations of the 25 EU Member States in support of strong language on access to reproductive health.
Click here for English version
Click here for French version


The United States Administration’s decision for the fourth consecutive year not to release $34 million appropriated by Congress for UNFPA is regrettable, especially when leaders at the World Summit stressed the need to act together on global concerns. The funds are urgently needed for effective multilateral work in developing countries to prevent maternal and child deaths, stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, provide voluntary contraception and to support the work to end poverty.

The Administration’s stated reason for continuing to withhold funds is simply incorrect, as an assessment team sent to China by the Administration itself found no evidence that UNFPA supports coercive abortions or sterilization. To the contrary, it reported that UNFPA had registered its strong opposition to such practices. Other independent teams, from the British Parliament and a multi-faith panel of religious leaders, reached the same conclusion, some adding that UNFPA was a force for good, promoting positive change.

The current Administration has, so far, withheld $127 million in funds appropriated by Congress. One year’s withheld funding of $34 million could prevent as many as 2 million unwanted pregnancies and 4,700 maternal deaths in developing countries. The funds could also be used to scale up promising maternal health and HIV-prevention efforts, as well as to treat young women suffering from obstetric fistula.

The United States is the only country to ever deny funding to UNFPA for non-budgetary reasons in the agency’s entire 36 years of operation.

If you believe that the United States should support UNFPA, please contact your elected officials and tell them so!

Contact your Senator

Contact your Representative

New WHO Report Talks Up ACCESS

"Providing universal access to broad-based health services could save several million children's lives each year,” said Dr LEE. “That would reverse the downward trends and bring us two-thirds of the way to meeting the child mortality goal, and 70% to 80% towards meeting the maternal mortality goal.”

“We have the treatments; the technology is known and affordable,” Dr LEE said. “The problem in many countries is getting the staff, medicines, vaccines and information to those who need them on time and in sufficient quantities. In too many countries, the health systems to do that either do not exist or are on the point of collapse.”

Click here for full report.