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World Population Day

Achieving Millennium Development Goals for sustainable future

M.A. Jabbar
WORLD Population Day is observed on July 11 every year to raise awareness about global population issues, and seeks attention and action related to the opportunities and challenges for the global population. The Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme established the event in 1989. In 1950, five years after the founding of the United Nations, world population was estimated at around 2.6 billion. According to UN estimates, the figure reached 5 billion in 1987 and 6 billion in 1999. In 2011, the UN Population Fund kicked off the 7 billion action campaign to meet the opportunities and challenges presented by the world population. It is expected that the 7.14 billion world population now will probably be 8 billion by 2030.
The trend of growth of the world population as shown above has profound implications for development. It is both a challenge and an opportunity in terms of sustainability, urbanisation, access to health services and youth and women empowerment. Let us discuss some important issues.
A UN report reveals that every day, almost 800 women die in pregnancy or at childbirth. Every two minutes, the loss of a mother shatters a family and threatens the well-being of surviving children. Evidence shows that infants whose mothers die are more likely to die before reaching their second birthday than infants whose mothers survive. Of the hundreds of thousands of women who die during pregnancy or childbirth each year, 90% live in Africa and Asia. The majority of women die from severe bleeding, infections, eclampsia, obstructed labour and the consequences of unsafe abortions.
Working for the survival of mothers is a human rights imperative. It also has many
socio-economic implications and is a crucial international development priority. Both the international conference on Population and Development and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) aim at the following goals: (i) all women will have access to contraception to avoid unintended pregnancies, (ii) all pregnant women will have access to skilled care at the time of birth, and (iii) all those with complications will have timely access to quality emergency obstetric care.
In 2008, UNFPA established the Maternal Health Thematic Fund to increase the capacity of national health systems to provide a broad range of quality maternal health services to reduce health inequalities and empower women to exercise their right to maternal health. UNFPA has also formed a team with five partners - Unicef, the World Bank, World Health Organization, UNAIDS and UN Women - to accelerate progress in saving the lives of women and newborns. The agencies have helped member countries to make commitments to the global initiative and the UN's MDGs, and to mobilise the financial, technical and human resources needed to meet their commitments.
Further, UN data reveal that about 16 million girls under age 18 give birth each year. Another 3.2 million undergo unsafe abortions; 90% of the pregnant adolescents in the developing world are married. But far too many of these girls have little to do with informed choice. They also face consequences of discrimination, rights violations including child marriage, inadequate education, and sexual coercion. World Population Day is an opportunity to seek attention and action of the world leaders, and raise awareness of the governments and individuals for the welfare of global population.
Bangladesh context
Bangladesh ended 2012 with a population of 154,695,368, which represents an increase of 1,832,937 people compared to
2011. As per data, Bangladesh is in eighth position among the 182 countries. The male population is greater with 78,346,922 men, representing 50.64% of the total, compared to 76,348,446 (49.35%) women. The country has a high population density with 1,074 people per square km.
Millennium Development Goals: Bangladesh perspective
Millennium Development Goals are multidimensional development targets agreed by the leaders of the UN member states in 2000, and are to be achieved by 2015. As a welfare country, Bangladesh has been working seriously to achieve the MDGs. Bangladesh has done well with regards to MDG targets in expansion of primary and secondary education, reduction in many aspects of women's empowerment and gender disparity, eradication of hunger, environmental sustainability, and reduction of maternal, infant and child mortality. Giving priority to gender equality as a human right, Bangladesh has done everything possible so that women can live in dignity and freedom, and free from want and fear. It has given priority to bringing down maternal and infant mortality rate to the desired level through participation and coordinated efforts of the government and private entrepreneurs. Apart from government efforts, various nongovernment organisations including Unicef, UNFPA and WHO are jointly implementing different programmes on mother and child health.
Surveys conducted by different UN organisations in 2013 reveal that maternal mortality rate in Bangladesh stood at 170 per 100,000 live births. In 1990, the rate was 574 per 100,000 live births according to health directorate health bulletin-2013, while Bangladesh maternal mortality survey by National Institute of Population Research and Training (NIPORT) in 2010
records the rate 194 per 100,000.
The above success of Bangladesh has been reflected through receiving of the MDG-4 and South-South Awards for its remarkable contribution in reducing the child mortality rate and providing health care services using information technology. Bangladesh also received awards from Global Alliance of Vaccination and Immunization in 2009 and 2012 for its outstanding success in the regular immunisation programme for children.
Child Act 2013 is a milestone for protection of vulnerable children. The act is harmonised with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child (CRC).
In spite of the above achievements, attention has to be focused on poverty reduction and employment generation; increase in the primary school completion rate and adult literacy rate; creation of more wage employment for women; increase in the presence of skilled health professionals at delivery; knowledge of HIV/AIDs, etc.
The present government has been earnestly working to promote Information and Communication Technology (ICT) among all sectors in order to fulfill the government vision of 'Digital Bangladesh' by 2021.
This is the age of international cooperation. No country can work and survive alone. Bangladesh is a developing country striving to achieve various socio-economic targets for the welfare of the people. In this connection, international cooperation is essential along with government efforts. As signatories to the MDGs, developed countries should come forward and assist Bangladesh and other developing/least developed countries to achieve a sustainable future.
The writer Is Executive Secretary, ADHUNIK.