WORLD POPULATION DAY 2018
2018 World Population Day is on
Wednesday, 11 July. Theme: FAMILY PLANNING IS A HUMAN RIGHT - Afrihealth Optonet
Nigeria
World Population Day: 11 July 2018. The tremendous
interest generated by the Day of 5 Billion
on 11 July 1987 led to the establishment of World Population Day as an annual event. For more than 20 years, the 11th of
July has been an occasion to mark the significance of population trends and
related issues.
World Population day is an annual event, observed on July 11 every year,
which seeks to raise awareness of global population issues. The event was established by the Governing
Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989.
World Population day is an annual event,
observed on July 11 every year, which seeks to raise awareness of global population issues. The event was
established by the Governing Council of the United
Nations Development Programmein 1989. It was inspired by the public
interest in Five Billion Day on July 11, 1987, the approximate date on which
the world's population reached five billion people. World Population Day aims
to increase people's awareness on various population issues such as the
importance of family planning, gender equality, poverty, maternal health and
human rights.
The
day was suggested by Dr KC Zachariah in which population reaches Five Billion
when he worked as Sr Demographer at World Bank.
While
press interest and general awareness in the global population surges only at
the increments of whole billions of people, the world population increases by
100 million approximately every 14 months. The world population reached
7,400,000,000 on February 6, 2016; the world population had reached
7,500,000,000 at around 16:21 on April 24, 2017.[2]
World Population Day,
which seeks to focus attention on the urgency and importance of population
issues, 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 11 July 1987.
2018 theme: “Family
Planning is a Human Right”
This year marks the
50th anniversary of the 1968 International Conference on Human Rights, where
family planning was, for the first time, globally affirmed to be a human right.
The conference’s
outcome document, known as the Teheran Proclamation, stated unequivocally:
“Parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the
number and spacing of their children.”
Embedded in this
legislative language was a game-changing realization: Women and girls have the
right to avoid the exhaustion, depletion and danger of too many pregnancies,
too close together. Men and women have the right to choose when and how often
to embrace parenthood — if at all. Every individual has the human right to
determine the direction and scope of his or her future in this fundamental way.
Nine standards to
uphold the human right to family planning:
- Non-discrimination: Family planning information and services cannot
be restricted on the basis of race, sex, language, religion, political
affiliation, national origin, age, economic status, place of residence,
disability status, marital status, sexual orientation or gender identity.
- Available: Countries must ensure that family planning
commodities and services are accessible to everyone.
- Accessible: Countries must ensure that family planning
commodities and services are accessible to everyone.
- Acceptable: Contraceptive services and information must be
provided in a dignified manner, respecting both modern medical ethics and
the cultures of those being accommodated.
- Good quality: Family planning information must be clearly
communicated and scientifically accurate.
- Informed decision-making: Every person must be empowered to make
reproductive choices with full autonomy, free of pressure, coercion or
misrepresentation.
- Privacy and confidentiality: All individuals must enjoy the right to privacy
when seeking family planning information and services.
- Participation: Countries have an obligation to ensure the active
and informed participation of individuals in decisions that affect them,
including health issues.
- Accountability: Health systems, education systems, leaders and
policymakers must be accountable to the people they serve in all efforts
to realize the human right to family planning.
