A
World Population Day event was held yesterday at the Thingaha Hotel in Nay Pyi
Taw, with Vice President U Myint Swe delivering the opening speech.
Attending
the event were Union Ministers Lt-Gen Kyaw Swe, Lt-Gen Ye Aung, Dr. Pe Myint,
Thura U Aung Ko, U Thein Swe and Dr. Myo Thein Gyi, Union Civil Service Board
Chairman Dr. Win Thein, Deputy Ministers, foreign ambassadors and diplomats to
Myanmar, department heads, nurses and midwives, students, representatives from
UN agencies, INGOs and NGOs, and other invited guests.
World
Population Day was established in 1989 by the Governing Council of the UN
Development Programme to mark the global population reaching 5 billion
inhabitants on 11 July 1987, said the Vice President. World Population Day
events soon took place annually around the world beginning in 1990 to raise
awareness of overpopulation. The theme for this year is “Family Planning is a
Human Right.” Myanmar, a UN member country, celebrates this significant event
every year.
Family
planning reinforces people’s rights to determine the number and spacing of
their children and plan the period for contraception. Effective family planning
can reduce maternal mortality rates by 40 per cent and under-five mortality
rates by 21 per cent.
According
to the 2014 Myanmar Population and Housing Census, Myanmar has the highest
maternal mortality rate in Southeast Asia with 282 mothers dying for every
100,000-child born. The census also shows 2,700 mothers on average die in
pregnancy or during labour every year, with 12 per cent of deaths due to
abortion or miscarriages, becoming the third highest cause of death. Young
women between the ages of 15 and 19 are the most susceptible to abortions and
miscarriages.
The
Vice President said it is important to provide mother and child protection and
awareness raising workshops to reduce these mortality rates. He added that
family planning is also directly related to this and should be developed and
accessible by everyone.
The
UN reports the global population has reached 7.6 billion and will increase by 1
billion in 2030 and 4 billion in 2100.
Developing
countries have the highest birthrates and this is related to poverty. There are
many modern approaches to reducing population growth and family planning is one
of the most effective ones if done correctly, said the Vice President.
The
2015 Demographic and Health Survey shows that 52 per cent of married women use
family planning methods and from among that number 51 per cent use modern
family planning methods, while 1 per cent use traditional methods. However, the
survey also indicates 16 per cent of women of childbearing age do not have
access to modern family planning methods, 5 per cent of married women want a
certain interval between their pregnancies, and 11 per cent wish to use
pregnancy prevention methods.
The
Vice President said family planning can go a long way in supporting
socio-economic development, reducing mortality rates of mothers and children,
allow more women to enter the workforce and thus reduce poverty, ensure
children receive adequate nutrition, ensure enough learning institutions are
available for all children to receive education, and reduce spending on mother
and child protection services.
The
Ministry of Health and Sports is collaborating with the UN Population Fund
(UNFPA) and mother and child protection organizations to promote family
planning operations, distribute contraceptives and birth control pills, and
provide educational workshops, said the Vice President.
Next,
Union Minister for Labour, Immigration and Population U Thein Swe explained
facts related to the theme “Family Planning is a Human Right”. This was
followed by an explanation on World Population Day by UNFPA Acting
Representative to Myanmar Ms. Kaori Ishikawa.
Afterwards,
a video on family planning and a short animation on this year’s World
Population theme were played to the audience.
After
the ceremony, attendees viewed the World Population Day exhibits on display.
Ref;
The Global New Light of Myanmar
No comments:
Post a Comment