World Population Day

According to the latest statistics, the world population has passed the 7 billion mark.

This fast accelerating number raises a number of important issues – and the United Nations has selected an interesting theme for this year from the potential list. The organisation wants to address the issue of adolescent pregnancy, which directly feeds the increase in the world population.

Adolescent pregnancy is a developmental and societal issue which is often a product of cultures and traditions that discriminate and do not allow for the rights of girls and women to be respected or for them to make informed choices.

So this is a very important and useful agenda. By raising awareness about accessing family planning and the side effects of adolescent pregnancy, it should not only help decrease the global population growth rate but also offer a chance for many women around the world to have an improved quality of life.

This can benefit their families and communities too.

A focus of our Department for International Development’s programme is on girl’s education, which could play a vital role in enabling young girls to make informed decisions about their future.

Girls who will have more power to influence and change the status quo. We also plan on providing 2 million more couples in Ethiopia with access to family planning by 2015. But much more needs to be done to empower girls and women.

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