World Population Day: Call for more support to vulnerable people

The public has been challenged to keep supporting vulnerable people in emergencies especially adolescent girls and women. The call was made yesterday at a function to mark the World Population Day in Kigali. “Since the end of the 2nd World War, we have seen so many people displaced from their homes across the planet. Among these, women and adolescent girls are particularly vulnerable. Today, these movements amount to 60 million individuals globally according to the latest United Nation’s figures. Let us join our efforts to give hope and support to them,” said Lamin Manneh, Rwanda’s UN resident coordinator. Mr. Lamin Manneh (L), together with Dr. Ndagijimana Uzziel. “In some areas, armed groups are committing terrible crimes over them, which is resulting in trauma, unintended pregnancies and transmission of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis. To save those souls in emergencies, we need to bring our effort together.” Dr Uzziel Ndagijimana, the Minister of State in charge of Economic Planning at the Ministry of Finance, said celebration of the World Population Day should be an opportunity for the world to think about measures to deal with the growing population. Mr. Lamin Manneh, Dr. Ndagijimana Uzziel, Dr. Patrick Ndimubanzi, Mr Daniel Alemu (L-R) at Hotel Umubano in the POPULATION DAY Event. “It is good that in Rwanda we have made a good step forward in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Yet, the high population growth and its implication are still a big challenge to the wellbeing and development not only of Rwandans, but also of the globe. The celebration should thus, be an opportunity for the world to mull measures to deal with the issue,” he said. Daniel Alemu, the deputy representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Rwanda, said the best way to deal with the issue is increasing awareness on reproductive health to ensure the concept of family planning and its practices are well understood. Mr. Daniel Alemu, deputy representative of UNFPA. “I would recommend governments to improve access to quality sexual reproduction health and ensure access particularly to youth. However, governments should also work at the community level to ensure that the community is sensitised through intensive sexual reproductive health information.” Family planning is central to gender equality and women’s empowerment, and it is a key factor in reducing poverty. Yet some 225 million women who want to avoid pregnancy are not using safe and effective family planning methods, for reasons ranging from lack access to information or services to lack of support from their partners or communities, according to UNFPA. Some of the guests in the event. (All photos by Fernand Mugisha) Most of these women with an unmet need for contraceptives live in 69 of the poorest countries in the world. An estimated 290,000 women die each year in developing countries from pregnancy-related causes, and 2.9 million newborns die in the first month of life. In Rwanda, the day was celebrated under the theme “Raising Awareness on Population and Development Issues”, while the Global theme was “Vulnerable Populations in Emergencies.” editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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World Population Day: Call for more support to vulnerable people