Namibia launches 2021 Voice and Choice Barometer

Windhoek, 1 October 2021: The 13th edition of the 2021#VoiceandChoice Barometer is officially launched by the Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Gender Equality Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare Honourable Royal /Ui/O/OO with the UNFPA Country Representative Sheila Roseau.

“The findings of the Barometer suggest that there is need to focus on Adolescent SRHR and three closely related themes such as teenage pregnancies, child marriages, and GBV “said Honourable Royal/Ui/O/OO.

UNFPA Country Representative said that the Barometer presents a strategic opportunity to demonstrate the complementarity between the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and Beijing agendas, their broader contributions to sustainable development, and the promotion of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE). It further provides the important opportunity for maintaining accountability and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, since there can be no gender equality without every woman and girl being able to exercise autonomy over her own body.

The Barometer measures 100 indicators in seven thematic areas on sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) including Gender-Based Violence (GBV); teenage pregnancies; child marriages; harmful practices and unsafe abortions, HIV and AIDS, and family planning, menstrual and maternal health.

Watch below a video on the Barometer launch in Namibia produced by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation