The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Nairobi Summit took place recently under the theme “Accelerating the Promise”.  The promises and commitments made in Cairo of 1994 saw a turning point for the future of women and girls, which are now being renewed and accelerated towards bringing a more equitable and inclusive world and to ensure its transformation  by ending all maternal deaths, unmet need for family planning and gender-based violence and harmful practices against women and girls by 2030. 

Pledges were made by governments, civil society, youth groups, faith-based organizations, academia and individuals. It is equally important to acknowledge that the private sector has pledged of $8billion to support maternal child health initiatives.

13 heads of states and governments made their country commitments during this opening ceremony including the President of the Republic, Mr Danny Faure.

Seychelles commitments under the 5 themes included

• Developing “A healthy nation ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being across the life course  … by 2023”
• Taking AIDS out of isolation through people-centred systems to improve universal health coverage,
• Achieving the 3 zeros by 2033
• Increase awareness among the local population on issues and best practices in adolescent sexual reproductive health and child and maternal health.
• Commit to maintaining a minimum of 10% of the annual budget towards the national health sector.
• In respect of : Demographic diversity and Social Development, Seychelles is facing the phenomenon of the ageing population and as such,:commit to ensure that older people will be empowered to age actively and healthily with equal rights in our society
• Commit to working to end Gender Based violence and the eradication of all forms of discrimination  through enhanced and programmatic action.
• Commit to support all efforts to mitigate the existence of trafficking in persons,

The 25^th anniversary commemoration of the ICPD progamme of action is said to be where we make possibility a reality, according to the Executive Director of the UNFPA, Dr Natalia Kanem.  Three days of engagement, activity, discussion and dialogue seeking to guide all members states to be inclusive, to push for the active involvement of youth and to ensure that no one is left behind. Young and old alike do not want to see an ICPD50 – if we walk the talk, if words are turned into action, if commitments are turned into action plans and roadmaps, then we will achieve our objectives and there will be no need for another global summit.

The Summit ended with a clarion call for a clear roadmap of actions to be taken in order to  advance the ICPD agenda and transform the world for women and girls, but not excluding our men and boys and for us in Seychelles, our commitments will be translated into concrete actions to ensure that we uphold the principles of Cairo and Nairobi.