by Marie Kauna – EMTV Online, Port Moresby
Family Planning 2020 or FP2020 was launched in 2012 as a measure to support women and girls worldwide in their decisions when to have and when not to have children.
The initiative is a global partnership that supports the rights of women and girls, and allows them to decide when they should have children and when not to. With population growth rising each day, the initiative aims to reach as many women and girls to reach the target of 390 million by the year 2020.
According to a published review on ‘Population Growth Is Still the Biggest Problem Facing Humanity’, nearly 220,000 people are added to the planet every day. This means the number of births per day continues to increase.
In an effort to also help control population growth, the FP2020 aims to encourage more women and girls to engage in using modern contraceptives to help them with their health while control birth and population.
So far since its launching in 2012, the past four years has seen an additional 30.2 million women and girls use modern contraceptives. This significant increase in the number of women using modern contraceptives was made in sub-Saharan Africa according to the report by Family Planning 2020.
Based on the progressive outcomes of the initiative plus areas to improve, paves way for further expansion and improvement of the program.
Image Source: Family Planning 2020
According to FP2020’s Executive Director, Beth Beth Schlachter, the richness of the data now available from the past four years, will enable them (initiative) to study the situations on a country-by-country basis, and also help them to reach out to the places that are hardest to reach. Places hardest to reach include the young people, the poorest, the marginalised and the most vulnerable, and also to ensure the programmes and policies of the initiative are grounded in the principles of agency, access, availability and quality of care.
With positive progress witnessed from its operations since its launching, UN’s Department of Economics and Social Affairs predicts that the high rate of contraceptives used in Africa, will help cut the global population growth by 1 billion over the next 15 years.
