Pretoria - Ministers of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) responsible for population and development will meet in Johannesburg on Thursday to review the implementation of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICDP) Programme of Action.
This year marks the 15th anniversary of the ICPD and reminds the countries of the five years remaining to fulfil the commitments.
The ICDP was adopted during the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994. The 20-year programme of actions focuses on individuals' needs and rights, rather than achieving demographic targets.
The 179 countries agreed that population and development were inextricably linked and that empowering women and meeting people's needs for education and health as well as reproductive health, are necessary for both individual advancement and balanced development.
The two-day conference is being hosted by the Minister of Social Development Edna Molewa aims to consider progress on the implementation of the programme of action in the SADC region.
Ministers will also agree on the region's population and development priorities during the next five years.
Among the key focus of the discussions at the conference will include development themes such as poverty, HIV and AIDS, reproductive health, population and migration, urbanization and youth empowerment.
South Africa is the current chair of SADC and Minister Molewa is expected to address the delegation on Friday.
The delegates participating in the conference include officials from Malawi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Botswana, Swaziland, Uganda, Seychelles, Mauritius, Namibia as well as the United Nations Population Fund and Partners in Population and Development
