CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- The Commission on Population (Popcom) in Central Luzon Region is set to commemorate the annual World Population Day (WPD) on July 11, through a series of modern family planning (FP) strategies.
Popcom-Cental Luzon director Eleanor Cura stressed the importance of modern family planning in this year’s WPD celebration themed “Family Planning: Empowering People, Developing Nations (Pagpaplano ng Pamilya: Lakas ng Sambayanan, Kaunlaran ng Pamayanan).”
“Through the World Population Day, we continue to stress the importance of modern family planning not only among couples or individuals of reproductive age, but also the communities that these people belong to,” Cura said.
Cura said that the WPD for 2017 “is a good opportunity to advocate modern FP among policy-makers and planners, focusing on modern FP’s significance and benefits to the family and to the community.”
A series of activities lined up by Popcom for the annual celebration include a consultation with the Department of Health and other regional partner agencies on July 11, for possible Responsible Parenthood and Family Planning (RP-FP) activities in their respective offices as well as coordination with local government units (LGUs) to achieve and sustain zero unmet need for modern FP mandated by Executive Order 12-2017 signed by President Rodrigo Duterte.
“By strengthening partnerships with regional agencies and LGUs, not only do we ensure the generation of demand for modern FP, but also the delivery of FP commodities most particularly to couples and individuals who have an unmet need,” Cura added.
A yearly event observed every July 11th, the WPD aims to increase the knowledge of everyone on issues directly and indirectly related to the rapid increase in the global population.
Established by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989, WPD was inspired by the public interest in Five Billion Day on July 11, 1987, the estimated date on which the world’s population reached a total of five billion people.
Today, WPD is observed by the United Nations Population Fund, the lead UN agency whose goal is to deliver “a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.”