1 billion, 1 billion people affected by extreme poverty

Health problems that cause thousands of deaths

Unwanted pregnancy - lack of care - stillborn children

A pattern that is repeated year after year

Here, ladies and gentlemen, is a sad reality

A way of thinking

Much more than that; a fatality

That UNFPA is trying to eradicate

So many years of struggle to change mentalities

Managing pregnancy from birth to maturity

A conscious and understood gender equality because my weakness is not my femininity

Enrolling girls in school and giving them a chance to dream

Restoring women's dignity

In order to stop talking about mortality

However, 1969 - 1979: 10 years to educate girls

1969-1989: 20 years to eliminate the term "unwanted pregnancy"

1969-1999: 30 years for maternal and child health

1969-2009: 40 years to reduce mortality

And this year: 1969-2019;

50 years old

50 years since UNFPA exists

But the same problems persist

After all, it’s no longer news and society forgets

So, I keep counting......

Ladies and gentlemen, for how long will I be counting?

Why is it so difficult to be a child and a woman in the eyes of humanity?

What is the value of our tears, our cries and our blood?

What is the weight of our rights, our choices, our intelligence?

And what about us, ladies and gentlemen, who are spectators, actors or whistleblowers?

Are we the ones who will act or let it happen?

Making the world move forward

UNFPA from North to South, West to East

Committed to it half a century ago

Lets celebrate a very happy birthday

And above all, accelerate the promise

YOUSSOUF ASSANE MAYAKI Rimana, Collège Mariama