14/07/2008 Honorable guests, dear colleagues:
Today we celebrate World Population Day and seek to focus the attention of the society on the urgency and importance of population issues in the context of overall development plans and programmes.
The theme of this year’s World Population Day is “It’s a right, let’s make it real”. Today, on World Population Day, the United Nations Population Fund pledges its commitment to the right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children and to have the information, education and means to do so.
Reproductive health is essential to women’s empowerment and gender equality, and can be an effective mean in the fight against poverty, as parents can plan ahead and devote more of their resources to the education and health of children, with a clear benefit to their family and community.
This right has been embedded in a number of fundamental international documents. Two main targets of the MDGs are cutting maternal mortality ratios by 75% and achieving universal access to reproductive health by 2015.
Maternal death and disability could be reduced substantially if every woman has an access to health services, especially during pregnancy and childbirth. This would reduce maternal deaths by a third, and child deaths by as much as 20%. Preventing unwanted pregnancies also reduces abortions. About 90% of abortion-related deaths and disabilities worldwide could be avoided if women, who wish to avoid or postpone pregnancy, have an access to effective contraception.
Since late 1990s, UNFPA in Armenia implements at national and grass-root level programs to support reproductive health programs, including ensuring everyone’s right to decide on the number of and spacing of children. It has supported the Government in establishing 75 reproductive health cabinets.
Both at the regional and country level, UNFPA promotes a decrease in abortions as a means for fertility control and advocates for modern means of contraception that better protect the health of women. The objective is to give a broad spectrum of choices so women can decide for themselves.
The analysis of population/demographic trends and their reflection in national policies and strategies is another major area of UNFPA’s support to the Armenian authorities. In addition to nation-wide surveys on Family and migration, UNFPA continues its work with surveys on infertility and gender-based violence aimed at providing sufficient bases for the design of policies and demographic strategies for Armenia.
I would like to end by saying that a collective effort is needed to ensure universal access to reproductive health by 2015. The United Nations in Armenia and in particular the UN Population Fund remain committed to this effort. | 
