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World
Population day commemorated
in Hawasa |
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ADDIS
ABABA(July 11,2008) - World Population Day, observed
annually on 11 July, was celebrated here in Hawasa, Southern Nations
Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (SNNPR).
This year's annual event was marked with a symposium of government
officials and representatives of UN agencies and NGOs on Thursday,
according to a press statement from UNFPA Ethiopia office.
The theme of this year's celebration, "Family Planning is a Right,
Let's Make it Real," calls attention to the large unmet need
for family planning around the world, UNFPA said.
The UN agency said the day also marked the launching of the Population
Policy of Ethiopia.
"All couples and individuals have the basic right to decide freely
and responsibly the number and spacing of their children. Among Ethiopian
men and women of reproductive age, 34% wish to use some method of
family planning but do not yet have access to it, according to the
Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey of 2005.
Ethiopia's high fertility rate - an average of 5.4 children per woman
- is significantly related to this unmet need for family planning."
Studies show that developing countries with lower fertility and slower
population growth have seen higher productivity, more savings and
more productive investment, according to the statement.
Over the past four years, the Government of Ethiopia's Health Extension
Program has made family planning a key component of one pillar of
the program - the promotion of family health.
As a signatory to the Millennium Declaration, and also in its Population
Policy, the Ethiopian government has committed to achieving gender
equality, improving maternal health, and achieving universal access
to reproductive health by 2015, UNFPA said.
Today's symposium encouraged local and national leaders to join development
agencies in support of and commitment to family planning as a fundamental
human right.
Presentations by reproductive health experts, discussions among the
participants, events for the media, and a concurrent road show throughout
Hawasa were included over the course of the day, said the press statement.
The event was organized by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development,
the Bureau of Finance and Economic Development of SNNPR, UNFPA, Pathfinder
International, The German Foundation for World Population (DSW), Consortium
of Reproductive Health Association (CORHA), and other local partners.
World Population Day was instituted in 1989 as an outgrowth of the
Day of Five Billion, marked on 11 July 1987. It seeks to focus attention
on the urgency and importance of population issues, particularly in
the context of overall development.
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