US citizens raising money for UN Population Fund

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has welcomed an initiative from two independent American citizens who have initiated "grass-roots" campaigns in an effort to close a budget shortfall created by the US government's withholding of US $34 million in funding. The campaigns had started through the circulation of separate email letters, hoping to reach "34 million friends", urging each to donate US $1 or more, said UNFPA in a statement released on Thursday. Cheques had begun to arrive at the organisation's headquarters in New York, it added. Some of the programmes to be affected included those to ensure safe delivery in eight rural districts in Kenya, and improve emergency obstetric care in Burundi. On 22 July, US President George W. Bush announced the withholding of funding for UNFPA - that had been appropriated for the UN body by Congress - in all 142 countries in which it operated, because of concerns about its role in China. The Bush administration, in withholding funds, cited allegations that UNFPA gave tacit support to China's one-child policy just by working in China, said UNFPA at the time. "UNFPA has not [condoned], does not and will not ever condone or support coercive activities of any kind, anywhere," said UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Obaid in a statement. An article by Nicholas Kristof that appeared in the New York Times commented that "only Washington could come up with a solution to Chinese problems that involved killing teenage girls in Burundi". UNFPA estimates that the US $34 million could prevent two million unwanted pregnancies, nearly 800,000 abortions, 4,700 maternal deaths, nearly 60,000 serious maternal illnesses, as well as over 77,000 infant and child deaths. The United States is the only country ever to deny funding to UNFPA for non-budgetary reasons, the organisation said. Meanwhile, on 25 July, the EU announced that it would make a donation of over US $31 million dollars to the UNFPA.