International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)

At the first International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), held in Cairo in 1994, a 20-year Programme of Action (POA, www.iisd.ca/Cairo/program/p00000.html) was compiled and adopted by more than 179 countries. The ICPD POA set out 20-year goals for actions relating to SRH. This agreement reflected a shift away from a narrow approach to population and provision of family planning services, to a more client-orientated, rights-based approach. This was underpinned by a commitment to gender equality and sustainable development, which endorsed the integration of HIV and AIDS into SRH interventions. This included the prevention, detection and treatment of STIs, provision of information, education and counselling for responsible sexual behaviours and ensuring a reliable supply of condoms.

A review of the POA was undertaken by the UN General Assembly in 1999 at ICPD+5, at which point Key Actions for the Further Implementation of the POA of the ICPD (www.un.org/popin/unpopcom/32ndsess/gass.htm#as215a1) was developed. This reaffirmed the need to ‘ensure that prevention of and services for STDs and HIV and AIDS are integral components of SRH programmes at the primary care level. Gender, age-based and other differences in vulnerability to HIV infection should be addressed in education and prevention programmes’. Specific targets were set for reducing HIV prevalence among young people, and for expanding their access to information and services for preventing infection.

At ICPD+10 in 2004 these sentiments were again restated, and the urgency to increase efforts to integrate HIV and AIDS and SRH, highlighted.