Three Decades of Assistance to Lao PDR

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, works with governments and international non-governmental organizations, supporting programmes that help women, men and young people to:

• plan their families and avoid unwanted pregnancies;
  
• Have safe pregnancy and childbirth;
  
• avoid reproductive tract infections, including sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS;
  
• combat violence against women;
  
• Benefit from balanced, sustainable social and economic development planning.

One of the highest rates of population growth and lowest Human Development Indices in the world are among several factors that make UNFPA's mission especially important in Lao PDR. Others include poverty; huge disparities between urban and rural areas (particularly those populated by ethnic minorities) in terms of infrastructure, reproductive health and education; gender imbalances in many spheres; and widespread lack of knowledge about reproductive health and reproductive rights.

UNFPA assistance to the Government of Lao PDR started in the mid-1970s. During the latter part of the decade and through the 1980s, UNFPA assistance in Lao PDR was mainly related to the national census and other large-scale information gathering on population and reproductive health issues. In 1991, UNFPA started supporting maternal and child health services through three clinics in the capital city, Vientiane.

The first full UNFPA Country Programme of Assistance was launched in 1993, when UNFPA opened an office in Vientiane under the direction of the UNFPA Representative in Thailand. The Second Country Programme, which ran from 1997 to 2001, saw a much broader range of activities with new partners, including the Ministry of Health, the Lao Women's Union, the Lao Youth Union, the Ministry of Education, the National Statistics Centre, the National University of Laos and the Committee for Planning and Cooperation.

The UNFPA office in Lao PDR was upgraded to a full representative Country Office in 2000. With the launch of the third five-year UNFPA Country Programme of Assistance for Lao PDR, UNFPA is now in a stronger position than ever to help Lao PDR achieve national and international targets for population, development and reproductive health; reduce gender equalities; and monitor, analyze and address population issues in its development planning.

More information on UNFPA's global programmes, as well as the core issues and principles that shape UNFPA's work, can be found at the UNFPA Interactive Population Center.