Population policies and programmes in the post-ICPD era: can the Pacific Island countries meet the challenge?

This article describes prospective population policies and programs that may be implemented in the Pacific Island Countries during the post-International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) era (i.e., by the year 2005, the target date of the ICPD Program of Action). Some of the positive indicators in the Pacific Islands are a high annual average income level, high average life expectancy by world standards, absence of absolute poverty, high overall literacy rates, universality of primary education, low infant mortality rate, availability of modern transportation and communication infrastructure, and accessibility of safe water supplies and health services. The challenge is to maintain the overall high standard of living in the Islands without taxing their resources. Addressing this challenge will require innovative population-accommodating and population-influencing policies; these would be incorporated into comprehensive national population and development policies and programs targeting reproductive health. The greatest challenge will be to integrate population issues fully into the development and planning process at time when national development policy options are very limited. National governments and donors should respond to this challenge to ensure the maintenance of past achievements and current progress in the quality of life of Pacific Islanders.