Implementing the ICPD Programme of Action: What a Difference a Decade Makes

The Programme of Action adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994 was conceived as a 20-year programme. Now, at its mid-point in 2004, we have reached a time for assessment and re-commitment to its goals. This paper is a reflection on some of the political and other changes that have taken place during the first ten years of the Programme of Action and their implications for its implementation in the coming decade. Many countries have gone ahead and integrated sexual and reproductive health services into primary health care, whether or not the concept has been supported at the international level, and are doing what they can to accommodate the needs of those requiring information and services. The shape of the "playing field" has changed in the past ten years and the goal posts have moved. Yet many countries are adjusting and adapting. The big question, which has yet to be answered, is whether the international community will help or hinder the efforts at country level to achieve the goal of access for all to sexual and reproductive health by 2015.