Issues Emerging Out of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Abstract

The most eventful conference of the 20th century under the United Nations was in the forum of the International Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo, Egypt from 5 to 13 September 1994. The future shaping 115-page document embodying general agreement on the Programme of Action, adopted on 13 September, ushered a new approach and a new phase to population and development among 179 countries of which India happened to be a key nation. Central to this new approach is empowering women and providing them with more choices through extended access to education and health services and promoting skill development and employment. The Programme of Action includes a set of important population and development objectives, including both qualitative and quantitative goals that are mutually supportive and are of critical importance to these objectives. Among these objectives and goals are: sustained economic growth in the context of sustainable development; education, especially for girls; gender equity and equality; infant mortality and maternal mortality reduction; and the provision of universal access to reproductive health services, including family planning and sexual health.