World Population Day - Developing Nations, Empowering People

Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director – The Population Foundation of India, highlights how India has taken on the responsibility of family planning as a tool that can empower people by preventing the vicious cycle of unplanned and unhealthy families that is counteractive to economic growth

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The theme for the World Population Day 2017 is‘Family Planning: Empowering People, Developing Nations’. It is the fifth anniversary of the 2012 London Summit on Family Planning.. This was the place of origin of Family Planning 2020 or FP2020, a community of leaders, experts, advocates, and implementers working together to expand access to contraceptives. Governments, civil society, multilateral organisations, donors, the private sector, and the research and development communities are working towards empowering 120 million additional women and girls. India too, as one of the most populous countries in the world, is striving to contribute towards this milestone.

To achieve this, India, along with many other nations, has taken on the responsibility to support the reproductive rights of several million women and girls to decide whether, when, and how many children they want to have. Recently, the government included three new contraceptives (injectables, Centchroman, and Progestinonly pills) into the basket of choice, the Supreme Court judgement on the Bilaspur tragedy was critical in highlighting the need for a rights-based approach to family planning, and earlier this month they accelerated the roll-out and implementation of Mission Parivar Vikas, a government scheme that focuses on 145 high fertility districts in seven states.