World Population Day 2020

World Population Day 2020 :

11 July is World population day, as of June 2020 current world population is 7.8 billion.This UN event focuses on the urgent response to the population issues.In conclusion, It relates the population issue with the environment and development.

Currently the estimates indicate that approximately 83 million people are added to the world’s population every year. The global population is expected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, according to the medium-variant projection

Watch the exact population of the world in 2020 till current day at Worldometer


Theme

In 2019 there was not a specific theme. World population day 2019 theme emphasized globally on the unmet goals of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, happened 25 years back from 2020 in Cairo where 179 governments adopted “reproductive health and gender equality are essential for achieving sustainable development”.

women and girls

The theme of World population day 2020 is still under consideration by the UN. Thus, the UNFPA called for humanitarian aid, also known as the Humanitarian Action Review of UNFPA. This appeal outlines challenges faced by women and girls in these disastrous times.

 

UNFPA 

This organisation works to support family planning by: ensuring a steady, reliable supply of quality contraceptives; strengthening national health systems; advocating for policies supportive of family planning; and gathering data to support this work. 

Aims of UNFPA | World Population Day 2020 :

On the World Population Day, UNFPA aims to-

  • Firstly, raise awareness regarding sexual and reproductive health needs and vulnerabilities of women and girls during the pandemic. 
  • highlight how we can safeguard hardfought gains and ensure that SRHR stays on the local agenda.
  • to explore how to maintain the momentum towards achieving the SDGs by 2030 that we rallied at the Nairobi Summit.

With the challenge of the pandemic, UNFPA’s specific themes and angles include:

The overall UNFPA response to COVID-19: Governments are accountable for taking unprecedented measures to limit the spread of the virus. Hence, The responses of organisations worldwide is presented in the global response plan

The impact of COVID-19 on the ‘Three Zeros‘ :

The global response plan points out the major challenges faced by the country in these tough times.

The three main challenges entails:

  1. Firstly, gender-based violence.
  2. Secondly, child marriage and female genital mutilation.
  3. Then, making contraceptive services more available and accessible.

Adolescents and youth: The present situation has interrupted school and community-based services. Population in present day scenario of COVID-19 world wide, new ways of information transmission needs to be done in 2020. Further information is provided here. 

Challenges for women and girls in humanitarian settings: For protection of the vulnerable sections many approaches are in progress. The appeals issued in regards to assist the mentioned communities is addressed here.

Maternal health: The pandemic has created a hard situation for pregnant women and their health. Timely check ups and safe delivery services are the needs of the hour. Read more here.

Census: The 2020 census has been halted in many countries. The critical data for policymakers is facing a major obstacle. Implications of this situation are provided here.

World and India | World Population Day 2020 :

population

Every year, approximately 83 million people make it to the world’s population. Above all, If this trend continues, the global population will to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100. We are going to celebrate world population day 2020 and currently, the population is at 7.7 billion. Out of that, India holds 1.327 billion which is approximately 17.5 % of the world population. 

India might become the world’s youngest country with 64% of the working population in 2020, despite resolving the issues of employment problems. However, Keeping in mind this situation, it is important to understand the need for population control.

Read this article on Battling COVID- 19: India needs to adopt a holistic approach

 

COVID- 19, Women and Population Crisis

Women and COVID- 19

The toll of this pandemic is quite high on communities and economies worldwide. But, In addition, some are undoubtedly more affected than the others.

The countries are facing lockdown and the health systems are struggling.In other words covid-19 has increased many difficulties, like;

  1. sexual and reproductive health services.
  2. unavailability of contraceptives.
  3. heightening the risk of unintended pregnancy.
  4. gender-based violence.
  5. mental health. 

 

The recent UNFPA research highlights that if the lockdown continues for 6 months with major disruptions to health services, then: 

  • 47 million women in low- and middle-income countries may not be able to access modern contraceptives resulting in 7 million unintended pregnancies. 
  • 31 million additional cases of gender-based violence can also be expected. 
  • The disruption of UNFPA’s programmes on the ground could result in 2 million cases of female genital mutilation and 13 million child marriages between 2020 and 2030 that could have been averted. 
  • Also, Economic impacts of COVID-19 have hit the women hard. As a consequence of disproportionate work in insecure labour markets.
  • Nearly 60 percent of women worldwide work in the informal economy, at greater risk of falling into poverty. 
  • Women’s unpaid care work has increased as a result of school closures and the increased needs of older people.

Therefore, Let us celebrate World Population Day 2020 by promising ourselves to be more responsible towards the alarming rate of growing population to make this planet a better place.

For more articles on Environment please visit Environment : Aware Earth

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