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The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Higher Population Council (HPC) will mark the commemoration of World Population Day on July 11th, 2008 under the theme ‘Family Planning, it’s a right, let’s make it real’ in a bid to promote and increase awareness of family planning and reproductive health as a fundamental right across the Kingdom.
Dr. Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director, UNFPA stated, “As we commemorate World Population Day on July 11th, we must join forces to advance women’s empowerment and ensure universal access to reproductive health by 2015.” She added, “Reproductive health services protect the health of women, mothers and their babies.”
Obaid went on to highlight the three reproductive health services that are vital for maternal health, which include skilled attendance at birth, emergency obstetric care and family planning to time and space births.
She said, “When a woman can plan her family, she can plan the rest of her life. Information and services for family planning allow individuals and couples to realize their right to determine the number, spacing and timing of their children.”
Researchers estimate that universal access to family planning could save the lives of about 175,000 women each year. Increasing birth intervals to at least 36 months could also prevent the deaths of 1.8 million children under the age of 5. Furthermore, every year approximately 536,000 women die from pregnancy-related causes, which equals more than 10 million women per generation. Almost all—99 percent—are in developing countries.
In Jordan, the fertility rate is still considered relatively high and is decreasing at a very slow rate despite the efforts made by the Jordanian government. It was reported that in 2002 the fertility rate was at 3.7 births per woman and in 2007 it only decreased to 3.6 births per woman, with variations across the Kingdom, with total fertility rates being higher in the South (4.0) and in the rural areas (4.2) - This is according to the Demographic and Health Surveys in 2002 and 2007 respectively.
With regards to the use of modern contraception, which prevents approximately 2.7 million infant deaths per year in the developing world, it is still not very widely used in the Kingdom and the rate has stagnated at 41% in 2002 and 42% in 2007. However, the Ministry of Health in Jordan has been putting a lot of effort into making family planning services, including contraceptives, more accessible and training health providers and midwives to provide appropriate family planning counseling to beneficiaries, with a focus on male involvement.
Dr. Ra’eda Al Qutob, General Secretary for the HPC, stated, “The Higher Population Council is the policy forum for all population issues in Jordan including reproductive health and family planning. The HPC has been setting the strategies and policies to balance between population growth on one hand, through reproductive health and family planning, and economic resources and the development requirements on the other hand.”
Mrs. Muna Idris, Assistant Representative of the UNFPA, said, “The UNFPA plays a major role in supporting all national partners and stakeholders to develop well structured policies and strategies on population issues and reproductive health, which serve the best interests of the population and the National Agenda through long-term partnerships with the HPC and other national partners. UNFPA also works at the community level in selected areas to increase demand for reproductive health as a right, and to promote the involvement of men and women in deciding freely, and based on informed choice, the number of children they wish to have and the spacing between them.”
Many government and non-governmental agencies will be celebrating World Population Day starting on the 11th of July. The main activity that will bring the World Population Day’s awareness campaign to an end is the panel discussion with key decision makers and youth representatives that will take place on July 27th, under the Patronage of HRH Princess Basma Bint Talal, UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador.
The World Population Day’s activities in Jordan will be taking place with the help of many partners that include the Higher Council for Youth, the Department of Statistics, the Ministry of Planning, Queen Zein Al Sharaf Institute for Development, the Ministry of Health and the Jordanian National Commission for Women.
Family Planning is a fundamental part of life worldwide, but it is not newly recognized. In 1968, the International Year for Human Rights, United Nations Member States recognized the rights of individuals and couples to decide their family size. In 1994, the ICPD called on all countries to take measures and steps to meet the population needs for family planning methods and in 2008, four decades later, the momentum is being accelerated to promote and improve family planning in Jordan.
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