Anokwuru Uche Alexis|13 July 2018
Fifty years ago, the world gathered at United Nations International Conference on Rights in Tehran, on the 13th of May 1968, and declared that “parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and the spacing of their children.”
This year the Cross River State Government in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) took time to sensitize the public on the beauty of family planning. They explained that Family Planning is not only a matter of human rights, but also central to women’s empowerment, reducing poverty and achieving sustainable development.
"The Cross River State Government is fully committed to supporting the right of individuals, especially women, to plan a family. The Governor Ayade-led administration has the highest number of women in government; this spells out how much women are valued in the State.
The State Ministry of Health has ensured access to family planning services and information, access to sexual and reproductive healthcare and reproductive rights, which is also a feature of the AYADECARE". -Dr. Inyang Asibong; Commissioner for Health
The UNFPA Executive Director, Dr. Natalia Kanem, in a statement released earlier called on governments to fulfill their commitments as agreed at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development as they strive to end all unmet need for voluntary family planning in developing countries by 2030. She added that some 214 million women still lack safe and effective family planning methods, for reasons ranging from lack of information or services to lack of support from their partners or communities. This threatens their ability to build a better future for themselves, their families and their communities.
The aim of the World Population Day is to focus the world’s attention on the importance of population issues. Inspiration for this special day comes from the interest that was raised by “Five Billion Day” on 11th July, 1987, and in 1989 UNDP made the day official. This was the day when the world’s population reached 5 billion. The theme of this year's celebration was “Family Planning is a Human Right”.
Alexis is a health reporter
