Tashkent, February 19, 2021 – UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) together with the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Uzbekistan organized a conference on “Reproductive health and women rights, forming the heathy family, adolescents’ health, HIV, and reproductive system cancers”.

UNFPA, the United Nations Reproductive Health agency, has been working in Uzbekistan since 1993 and is currently implementing its fifth Country Programme (2020-2025) together with national partners. One of the main focuses of the new Country Programme is to support the Government in achieving its commitment to reduce maternal mortality by one third through the strengthening of evidence-based policymaking capacity and empowering women and girls to exercise their reproductive rights.

The conference that gathered over a hundred representatives of national and international organizations, the Ministry of Health, regional experts on reproductive health was held within the framework of ‘Year of Youth Support and Health Promotion’ declared by the President in 2021.

The objective of the conference was to discuss and analyze the current status of reproductive health, its role in overall health reforms, future steps for improvement of this area and the role of international organizations such as UNFPA in its development. Participants have discussed the progress and ways forward in maternal reproductive health as part of the government commitments during Year of Youth Support and Health Promotion; how to building a strong family through providing universal access of the population to information and resources available in the country, what are current changes, challenges, and expected results in Pre and postgraduate education as an important factor of strengthened reproductive health, impact to population health and wellbeing from cervical and breast cancer, and what are the future steps; the significance of HIV / AIDS and its implications for reproductive health and gender equality, adolescents’ health and education in the healthcare system.

During the conference participants had an opportunity to review the current status of reproductive health, to discuss problems and identify ways to solve them. The conference contributed to the overall coordination of the national and international initiatives and streamlining of the investments towards national priority to strengthen the government commitments towards maternal health and wellbeing.