On 5th October, JOICFP and UNFPA Tokyo Office jointly organized a press conference to announce the release of the UNFPA State of World Population (SOWP) 2005. Around 40 representatives of the mass media, including Japan's five leading daily newspapers, national television, radio, and wire services, attended.

This year, SOWP focuses on "The Promise of Equality: Gender Equity, Reproductive Health and the MDGs." For a summary of the report, click here.

Kunio Waki, Deputy Executive Director, UNFPA, gave an outline of the report, focusing on UNFPA's priority areas based on the reproductive health (RH) needs in the world.

Ken Okaniwa, Director, Aid Planning Division, Economic Cooperation Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the press that Japan was already showing commitment to universal access to RH and achieving the MDGs through, for example, the Gender and Development (GAD) Initiative, and the Health and Development Initiative, both announced this year.

Yuriko Ashino, Senior Adviser, Japan Family Planning Association, reflected on the history of gender mainstreaming since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1968. She said that while there has been progress in women's rights the situation at present was facing a reversal as worldwide conservative tendencies were rising, and this was having a negative impact in Japan as well.

(from left) Waki, Okaniwa
and Ashino at the press conference

Makoto Atoh, Professor, Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, and former Director, NIPSSR, reminded the audience that although there was great need to take an individual view on population and RH, there still was a world population problem and that the macro perspective should not be forgotten. He said that by 2050 there would be over 9 billion people on the planet, nearly 50% more than there are now.

JOICFP's President, Dr. Toshio Kuroda, Director Emeritus, NUPRI, summarized the proceedings. Both Dr. Kuroda and Professor Atoh supervised the Japanese version of SOWP 2005.

The conference was facilitated by Kiyoko Ikegami, Director, UNFPA Tokyo Office.

The press asked many questions, and were especially interested in the macro perspective of world population, as well as asking questions about gender, equity, RH and the MDGs.

Members of the press during the Q & A session