Celebrating “World Population Day”, is a global call to educate the public and galvanize their support to address issues pertaining to population and development. Currently, the world’s population is about 7.7 billion and it is projected that by 2050 there will be an increase of 2 billion.

UNFPA as the UN agency specialized on issues of population supported the National Population Council of Ghana (NPC) to launch this year’s celebration under the theme “Reproductive Health and Gender Equality for Sustainable Development” at Jamestown in Accra.

Delivering the key note address, Honorable Mohammed Nii Adjei Sowah, the Mayor of Accra, remarked that “Reproductive health and gender equality are the cornerstone of the ICPD and their achievement is a requirement for attaining sustainable development”. He added that the ICPD promise can be accelerated by including family planning service in the National Insurance scheme and increasing government funding for contraceptives.

Also speaking at the event, UNFPA Representative Niyi Ojuolape stated that “UNFPA and partners should use this occasion as an opportunity to raise awareness about how choices and opportunities have changed for girls and women since the ICPD and to raise awareness and mobilize political support for the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25, to be held from 12 to 14 November 2019”.

He emphasized that there is a need for collaborations between key partners including; the youth, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and the governments in the pursuit of the unfinished business to ensure that sexual and reproductive health rights is promoted, respected and protected for all individuals.

Still on the pursuit of the unfinished business of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, this year’s World Population Day calls for global attention to ensure that governments and stakeholders strive to make reproductive health and gender equality a reality for all.

Dr. Leticia Appiah, the Executive Director of NPC, stressed that Ghana has to do more although significant progress has been made in improving the sexual and reproductive health and rights for people.

“Meeting the reproductive health needs and gender equality are also fundamental human rights that inures to the benefit of not only the few who have access but all of us”, she added.

On behalf of the parliamentary caucus in Ghana, Mr Addae stated that poverty can be reduced if women are empowered to have few children. He assured that the Government of Ghana is poised to provide funding support to NPC alongside collaborating to review critical policies to enhance development.

Present at the event were key representatives  of the governments of Ghana, Canada, USAID, Christian Council of Ghana, Muslim Family Counselling Services, Ghana Coalition of NGO’s in Health, Ghana Aids Commission, Marie Stopes International, young people and others.

World Population Day was instituted by the then-Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989, as a day set aside to focus attention on the urgency and importance of population issues.