A Letter from Daniel Pellegrom, Pathfinder International

Via Facsimile: (202) 456-2461

January 15, 2002

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC  20500

Dear Mr. President,

We are writing to urge you to fully fund the United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) in the amount of $34 million – the sum appropriated for fiscal year (FY) 2002 in a bi-partisan agreement reached by Congress last month.  The UNFPA needs full American participation for it to be optimally effective and the U.S. needs UNFPA to continue its vital efforts to save the lives of women and children around the world.

Since 1969, UNFPA has worked to expand family planning and related health services to women and families across the globe, especially in the poorest regions of the world. The loss of crucial U.S. funding will severely undermine the UNFPA’s capacity to prevent the deaths of thousands of women and an estimated 77,000 children under the age of five. It will also jeopardize UNFPA's international AIDS prevention programs.

The U.S. has publicly pledged to significantly increase foreign assistance for reproductive health and family planning; however, it has yet to live up to these commitments.  Whereas funding UNFPA at the $34 million level is a step in the right direction, a decision to limit this funding – or worse, to defund UNFPA entirely – would represent a significant default by the U.S. on its international commitments.

UNFPA’s efforts throughout the world seek to reduce maternal and infant mortality by strengthening basic essential obstetric care and providing training and educational materials for midwives. UNFPA is also providing care and prevention for reproductive tract infections and HIV prevention, supplies to protect essential hygiene, family planning services, support for border area hospitals receiving referrals with pregnancy and childbirth complications, and counseling for victims of trauma and violence.

We believe that the UNFPA should be able to maintain its efforts to save women’s lives throughout the world.  We urge you to provide the full $34 million in funding that Congress has appropriated for UNFPA. 

Sincerely,

Daniel E. Pellegrom

President