Topic: Reproductive Health
Country: China
Delegate Name: Jolie Foor
School: Mattawan High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All China position papers GLIMUN 2017 committees
After years of enforcing a family planning policy that restricted couples in urban areas to one child, China adopted a different policy strategy in 2015, allowing families to have two children, and to enable its people to make informed reproductive health choices. China has responded to previous UN recommendations, and recognizes the importance of meeting the reproductive needs of individuals within the framework of human rights, instead of meeting demographic goals. Together with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), China has put in place a series of programs to improve citizens’ access to reproductive health and family planning services. This effort has given over 745 million Chinese men and women access to reproductive planning methods without discrimination from service providers. 39.4% of the program expenses goes to evidence-based policymaking, 39.3% of these resources go to integrated sexual and reproductive health services, 11.6% goes to gender equality, and 9.7% goes to adolescents and youth. Additionally, total spending on integrated sexual and reproductive health services reached over $760,000 in 2016.
Furthermore, China’s “Mother’s Health Express Train” project delivers health knowledge and services to rural women, including health checks and distribution of drug and health data. This project started in 2003, and has been funded by the Bank of China and other crowd sourced-funding. Projects similar to this could be implemented in other countries where reproductive health education and contraceptives need to be distributed. China warns the committee of the dangers of simply providing development funds to women in need of contraceptives, as this may lead to an abuse of the system, with women using that money to buy other necessities or goods.
In addition, China recognizes that undermining access to family planning education and services will deny women in poorer countries the tools needed to form health security. The absence of programs provided through funds drive women towards unsafe and illegal abortion, which jeopardizes their health, resulting in many unneeded deaths. The People’s Republic of China encourages developed countries to contribute funds to reproductive measures to ensure the safety of women in the world. The removal of a woman's choice to terminate pregnancies will severely strain family incomes in the future and lead to a rise in maternal mortality as a result of unsafe abortions. Since resources are limited, they should be allocated. China recommends that UN Women adjunct the allocation of resources to focus on development in rural areas, calling on developed countries to increase their contribution to this.
