Press Release
Thoraya Obaid Thanks 34 Million Friends of UNFPA as Contributions Top $2 Million
04 August 2004
UNITED NATIONS, New York—UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, warmly welcomed today’s announcement by 34 Million Friends of UNFPA that the grassroots effort has raised more than $2 million to support the Fund’s work.
Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of UNFPA, expressed her gratitude to Lois Abraham and Jane Roberts. The two Americans started 34 Million Friends of UNFPA in 2002 after the U.S. administration withheld $34 million that Congress had appropriated for the Fund. (Last month, the U.S. withheld funding from UNFPA for the third straight year)
“We have never experienced anything like this,” said Ms. Obaid. “Lois and Jane have not only mobilized funds that we need and are using to save women’s lives, but they also have demonstrated that citizens in the United States, as all over the world, understand that family planning and related reproductive health care, safe motherhood and HIV/AIDS prevention are essential requirements for basic human health—and that we must work together to make them universally available.”
Contact Information:
Abubakar Dungus
Tel.: +1 (212) 297-5031
Email: dungus@unfpa.org
