Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Oct.30 / Trend, D.Azizov /
Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Babatunde Osotimehin will pay his first official visit to Uzbekistan on Oct.30-31, UNFPA press release says.
The emphasis will be put on high-level meetings with Government officials, including with Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the social sector Adkham Ikramov and Deputy Prime Minister and the Chairwoman of the Women's Committee Elmira Basitkhnova. In addition there will be encounters with civil society and visit to health clinic. It is expected that in the course of the visit Babatunde Osotimehin will discuss progress of the country in achieving MDGs and ICPD goals and encourage more Uzbekistan's engagement in defining post-2015 MDG and post-2014 ICPD agenda.
Executive Director will also meet with Minister of Health Anvar Alimov to discuss the health situation in Uzbekistan and the contribution of the country progress on improvement of reproductive and maternal health and the contribution of the UNFPA to the development of this sector.
Osotimehin will visit the UNFPA supported National Perinatal Centre at the outskirts of Tashkent. The National Perinatal Center of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Uzbekistan was established in 2002 to provide highly quality referral care to pregnant women, women in childbirth, women recently confined and newborns from all regions of Uzbekistan. With the support of UNFPA and other International agencies the center has adopted and implements international standards on Safe Motherhood and Childcare.
The UNFPA has been supporting the government's efforts to improve the welfare of citizens since 1993. Under its third country programme (2010-2015), the UNFPA continues to focus on promoting reproductive health and rights, ensuring full implementation of women's and men's rights, opportunities, and responsibilities, and advancing national capacities to use population data for development programmes. The UNFPA has helped to strengthen healthcare policies and frameworks, provide essential equipment, and build the capacity of medical personnel. The latter has been achieved through training more than 10,000 healthcare providers on different aspects of reproductive health and rights.