Developing countries: health and poverty reduction

The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by John BOWIS (EPP-ED, UK) on health and poverty reduction in developing countries. (Please see the document dated 11/06/03.) Parliament took note of the following: - mental disorders such as depression are accelerating significantly, and mental health services in developing countries are often poor or non-existent; - the inadequate access to services for, and discrimination against, many people living with disabilities; - the high rate of maternal and infant mortality. Parliament stressed the importance of universal access to reproductive health care services such as family planning, safe motherhood services, prevention, detection and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, and of access to infant health services including childhood vaccination; - more than one third of all pregnancies are unwanted or ill-timed, due to lack of access to contraceptives and contraceptive failure; - millions of unsafe abortions are administered every year, killing nearly 80 000 women and causing hundreds of thousands of disabilities, which could, however, be prevented via adequate sexual and reproductive health education and care programmes; - the need to combat pollution, deforestation, desertification and industrial development given that they have a detrimental impact on health, especially through the impact on water supply and untreated waste and sewage. Parliament asked the Commission and Member States to take steps to rectify these problems.�