THE Commission on Population (Popcom) in Davao Region is set to commemorate the annual World Population Day on Wednesday, July 11, 2018 in various areas in the region.
Dubbed as "Family Planning as a Human Right," Popcom-Davao regional director Bai Agnes Duruin Sampulna said the commission promotes family planning to the society.
Sampulna said this year's commemoration of the World Population Day aims to increase people's awareness on the urgency and importance of various population issues nationwide.
Among the population issues and concerns that the government is trying to resolve are family planning, reproductive health, gender equality, poverty, maternal and child health, and human rights.
The annual World Population Day started in July 11, 1987, known as the Five Billion Day, when the world’s population reached 5 billion. As of July 2018, the Popcom reported the world’s population is at 7.6 billion.
Philippines has over 100 million total population, Sampulna said, adding that Davao Region has 4.8 million based on the 2015 Population Census by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Sampulna said this year is also significant as it marks the 50th anniversary of the 1968 International Conference on Human Rights, dubbed as the Tehran Proclamation, where family planning was globally affirmed to be a human right.
According to the United National Population Fund (UNFPA), the Tehran Proclamation states that parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children.
"We are gathered to celebrate the World Population Day. And, the Popcom is privilege to lead this activity which it is usually celebrated every July 11," Sampulna said.
In a report obtained from Popcom-Davao, the commission has referred and served 29,578 clients who have unmet needs for family planning from January 2017 to June 2018. Popcom-Davao and its programs partners have also conducted 29,410 Responsible Parenthood and Family Planning Classes to 298,891 Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries.
Meanwhile, Davao City Health Office (CHO) Population Division officer Jeff Fuentes said Davao City will be conducting several outreach activities in line of the celebration.
Fuentes said the purpose of this is one, to popularize the concept of the reproductive health as a human right and the family planning as a human right; second, once the concept has been popularized, there will be access to services.
"It should always be followed by access to services," Fuentes said.
Fuentes said the local government units as a very institution mandated to provide services is helping Popcom in popularizing their concept by providing services that the commission has been espousing.