Sebastian Roy
Youth Volunteer, FPA India, Nagaland Branch
World Population Day seeks to focus attention on the urgency and importance of population issues. It was established by the then Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989, an outgrowth of the interest generated by the Day of Five Billion, which was observed on July 11, 1987. The Day was first marked on July 11, 1990 in more than 90 countries. Since then, a number of UNFPA country offices and other organizations and institutions commemorate World Population Day, in partnership with government and civil society.
The aim of the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme is paying great attention towards the reproductive health problems of the community people as it is the leading cause of the ill health as well as the death of the pregnant women worldwide. It has been distinguished that around 800 women are dying daily in the procedure of giving birth to a baby. According to statistics, around 1.8 billion youngsters are entering to their reproductive years and it’s very necessary to call their attention towards the primary part of the reproductive health. Sexuality related issues are very necessary to get solved among youths especially between 15 to 19 years of age. According to the statistics, it is noted that around 15 million women of this age give birth every year as well as around 4 million go through abortion. The campaign of the World Population Day every year increases the knowledge and skills of the people worldwide towards their reproductive health and family planning. Through this great awareness celebration, people are encouraged to take part in the event to know about population issues like importance of family planning towards the increasing population, gender equality, maternal and child health, poverty, human rights, right to health, sexuality education, use of contraceptives method and safety measures like condoms, reproductive health, adolescent pregnancy, girl child education, child marriage, Sexually Transmitted Infections including HIV/AIDS. Today, the world population stands over 7 Billion. As reported on July 10, 2017 India with 1,349,644,654 (1.34 billion) people is the second most populous country in the world, while China is on the top with over 1,415,489,506 (1.41 billion) people. India is predicted to have more than 1.53 billion people by the end of 2030 with the population growth rate at 1.2%, With the world population ever growing, the countries around the world have initiated family planning policies to help maintain the world population.
The World Population Day 2017 theme this year is, ‘Family Planning: Empowering People, Developing Nations’. The theme aims at providing safe, voluntary family planning to the people around the world and in a way, help in curbing the population growth. Access to safe voluntary family planning is a human right. It is also central to gender equality and women’s empowerment, and is a key factor in reducing poverty. Investments in making family planning available also yield economic and other gains that can propel development forward. World Population Day 2017 coincides with the Family Planning Summit, the second meeting of the FP2020–Family Planning 2020–initiative. This FP2020 aims to expand access to voluntary family planning to 120 million additional women by 2020.
Family Planning Association of India (FPA India), a national level social impact organization working with communities for improving their sexual and reproductive lives strongly advocates on issues of rights-based family planning, enabling women and men to decide freely the number and spacing of their children without any form of coercion or discrimination. In observance of World Population Day 2017, FPA India Nagaland Branch in collaboration with CMO Kohima, Urban Health Centre, and National Health Mission shall be conducting family planning awareness campaign, Health Mela, Focus Group Discussion in Kohima District during population fortnight stabilization (July 11-24, 2017). During this period, the Association shall also provide Free Basket of Contraceptive Choices including Permanent Sterilization (Male/Female) at its Reproductive Health and Family Planning Clinic (RHFPC) Daklane, Kohima.
