World population

The UN has dedicated July 11^th as the day to create awareness and combat the population issue. The campaign of the World Population Day every year increases the knowledge and skills of the people worldwide towards their reproductive health and family planning.

The governing council of UN aims to pay attention towards the reproductive health problems of the community, as it is the leading cause of mortality in pregnant  women worldwide.  About 1.8 billion youngsters enter their reproductive years each year and it is necessary to call attention towards the primary part of the reproductive health.

Through this dedication, people are encouraged to take part in the event to know about population issues like importance of family towards the increasing gender equality, maternal and baby health, poverty, human rights, right to health, sexual education, use of contraceptives and safety measures like condoms, reproductive health, adolescent and pregnancy, girl child education child marriage, sexually transmitted infections and many other sexuality related issues, including sexually transmitted diseases.

The world population day is celebrated internationally by organizing variety of activities and events to draw attention to the issues through seminars, discussions, educational competitions, information sessions, debates, press releases etc.

The theme for 2016 is investing in the teenage girls.

Teenage girls around the world enormous challenges, many communities or parents consider them ready for marriage and motherhood. Many are forced out school, damaging their future prospects, even those in schools do not really have much information about their health, human rights and reproductive rights, this leaves them vulnerable to illness, injury and exploitation. These challenges are more in marginalized girls such as members of the ethnic minorities or those living in poverty or remote areas.

Empowering the Teenage girl would essentially improves the quality of the society.  When a girl receives 7-8 yrs of education, she marries four years later and has fewer children.  Studies in 72 countries show that increase in girl child literacy is directly proportional to the fall In the HIV rates. There is also fall in child marriage rates. Infant mortality reduces when the mother is educated.

Investing the girl child would mean she becomes an economic contributor. Women who have control over their own income tend to have fewer children. Fertility rates are inversely related to the national income growth. Girls and young women having fewer children means a bigger change in the per capita income, higher savings and more rapid growth.

The ten point agenda created by UN to empower girls to end poverty:

1. Create a global girl index. And score where girls’ best and worst of in the world, this ranking index would depend on the adolescent fertility, percentage of girls married before 15-18 HIV/AIDS prevalence, education completion rates and labour participation.
2. Count girls, by registering every birth the likelihood of exploitation of the girl child reduces.
3. Track and report annually on the progress of adolescent girls – what level and kinds of investments are being and is it having an impact.
4. Incremental funding especially for adolescent girls, — particularly how private foundations can address the needs of girls.
5. Invest girls education so that they can be prepared for formal sector jobs
6. Fight HIV/AIDS implement strategies target to adolescent girls to prevent HIV, create girl specific funds within the global fund to fight aids, tuberculosis and malaria to build capacity of countries to implement a girl specific strategy and place gender and girl experts in country.
7. Sexual and reproductive health services and information design and fund reproductive and sexual health services for adolescent girls that are accessible, comprehensive, confidential and non-judgemental. Ensure services and materials provide information in local language and target at-risk specific strategy to lower rates of adolescent maternal mortality and related conditions such as fistula.
8. Economic empowerment develop internships, training opportunities and lessons in financial literacy to ease girls transition from school to work, provide incentives to companies that implement these programs, develop codes of conduct that encourage training employment and empowerments of young women in the workplace, support smaller business partners to undertake cost benefit analyses of employing young women in on=traditional jobs.
9. Leverage your sphere of influence to deliver count gilrs and invest in girls, engage partners, write and speak about girls, convince the private sector to develop training programs, support transitions, from school to work and develop policies against discrimination, press, governments to adopt policies that prepare and protect girls and pass and enforce laws addressing violence, discrimination, education, identification, health etc.
10. Engage young people directly, engage youth in advocating on behalf of girls, engage girls in educating leaders about their lives in pressing for appropriate laws and policies and designing services and outreach.

Having shared this, as my commitment to advocacy, I am not actively participating in this campaign since i do not really agree with a lot of the agenda. The indigenous and ethnic parameters are absolutely not taken into account. When it is then the statistics change.