World Population Day is celebrated on 11 July each year as on this day in 1987, the world’s population reached 5 billion. It was observed as the “Five Billion Day” by the United Nations. The World Population Day is an attempt to raise awareness about the trend of the growing global population and its implications. It was established in the 1989 by the governing council of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
As population explosion began to take the center-staged as a cause of serious concern, the themes World Population Day focused on the health problems faced by child bearing women and the importance of family planning, gender equality, poverty, maternal health and human rights.
With the current global population at 7.8 billion, and an estimate of 9 billion people by 2050, the massive surge in the population is identified to be the casual factor of developmental concerns in several countries. It becomes more conspicuous for the developing and lesser developed countries. Therefore, World Population Day assumes paramount importance because it highlights the problems of increasing population and raises awareness about the effects of over-population on the environment and planet.
This year’s theme of the World Population Day 2020 is to raise awareness about safeguarding sexual and reproductive health needs and vulnerabilities of women and girls during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reports of shown that domestic violence has increased globally amid the lockdown. The National Commission for Women in India reported a huge rise in the number of complaints.
Women also accounts for the largest share of front-line health workers, according to the United Nations report. In India, amid the lockdown, there have been many instances of pregnant women unable to reach health care centers for delivery.
It is important to create and celebrate awareness. Get to know women and girls in our neighborhood and learn about their troubles. Talk about family planning, gender equality, sex education and human rights with women around us who have not had the opportunity of receiving proper education in their childhood.
Eduindex News 