In the framework of her visit to Brussels on 26 January, H.E. Mrs. Sandra Roelofs, the First Lady of Georgia visited EPF’s offices to inform herself about EPF’s current activities and parliamentary work on SRHR across Europe and at EU level.

Mrs. Roelofs is actively working on the UN Millennium Development Goals with a special focus on the reduction of maternal and child mortality, extreme poverty and infectious diseases. The visit, organised by EPF in cooperation with the Embassy of Georgia in Brussels was designed to exchange views and discuss strategies on recent SRHR developments across Europe and in the EU with leading experts in this field.

Together with the Georgian Delegation, headed by Hon. George Tsereteli, MP, Vice President of the Georgian Parliament and Member of the EPF Executive Committee, that comprised leading health experts and government representatives of Georgia, the First Lady met with Hon. Anne Van Lancker, MEP, EPF President and Chair of the European Parliament’s Working Group on Reproductive Health, HIV/AIDS and Development (EPWG), EU Commission Representatives as well as Members of the EP Delegation to the South Caucasus, UNFPA, selected reproductive health experts and NGOs in the European Parliament. The First Lady gave a comprehensive overview about the public health situation in Georgia that has improved considerably in recent years. In the framework of the Reproductive Health Initiative for Youth in the South Caucasus (RHIYC), a joint EC/UNFPA Project to which EPF is a partner, sexual and reproductive health and rights have been made a priority in Georgia receiving prominent support from leading government representatives as well as from the First Lady. Since October 2004 Mrs. Roelofs is the Chairperson of the Country Coordinating Mechanism for projects of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in Georgia and of the Reproductive Health National Council under the Georgian Ministry of Health and Social Affairs and, together with Hon. George Tsereteli, MP, has been instrumental in supporting political and legislative advancement on this topic. The humanitarian consequences in the aftermath of the Georgian-Russian conflict in August 2008 as well as the outcomes of the Governments and Donor Conference that was held in October 2008 in Brussels were also discussed during the meeting.

The visit in the Belgian Parliament hosted by Hon. Hilde Vautmans, MP and EPF Executive Committee Member who participated in the EPF fact-finding mission to Georgia on Emergency Reproductive Health Needs of Internally Displaced People in August last year focused on the exchange of views on the work and experiences of the Belgian All Party Parliamentary Group on the MDGs and the latest health-care reforms in Georgia. Both sides expressed their commitment to continue working on the advancement of SRHR issues on the agenda of their respective governments and explored possibilities for working together in the future.
EPF will continue to support the efforts of the First Lady and Georgian stakeholders in reproductive health on all ICPD plus 15 related activities, including a planned International Parliamentarians' Conference on ICPD and MDG 5 scheduled to take place in Cairo, Egypt in October 2009 and in mobilising other First Ladies in the European region to take up leadership roles in reproductive health advocacy.