Need of the hour: contraceptive supply to couples

World Population Day observed
The World Population Day was observed in the country on Sunday with a call to ensure supply of contraceptive materials to every eligible couple to contain the present population growth of 1.39 per cent.
Various government and non-government organisations and universities organised rallies, discussions, debates and essay competitions to mark the day, the theme being ‘Everyone counts’ to stress on the value and dignity of each individual.
President Zillur Rahman inaugurated a national programme at Osmani Auditorium, organised by the Department of Family Planning under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, with the support of UN Population Fund (UNFPA).
Before the inauguration, a colourful rally was taken out from the National Museum to Osmani Auditorium.
Advocating birth control materials for every eligible couple, Rahman said, “There is no alternative to controlling population to ensure a balanced environment.”
He said the slogan “Not more than two children; one is better” needs to be spread across the country to achieve the millennium development goal on health and family welfare sector.
Health Minister AFM Ruhal Haque, Adviser to the PM Syed Modasser Ali, State Minister for Health Mozibur Ragman Fakir and UNFPA representative Arthur Erken also spoke at the function.
Dr Haque said the country had successfully reduced the population growth rate to 1.39 per cent, the lowest in South Asia except Sri Lanka, and at present 55.8 per cent Bangladeshis used contraceptives, which was only 7.7 in 1975. “But in the international context, 200 million women are still failing to adopt family planning methods due to lack of access to contraceptive devices,” he said.
Dr Haque said the government had taken initiatives to build an adequate stock of birth control devices and introduce community clinics at grassroots level. He said there would be a clinic for every 6,000 people to ensure health services reach reproductive mothers.
Later in the evening, speakers at a dialogue underscored the need for maintaining accuracy in the upcoming population and housing census.
Marking the World Population Day, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and UNFPA jointly organised the dialogue at a city hotel on “Everyone Counts: The Population and Housing Census of 2011”. BBS director-general Md Shahjahan Ali Mollah said work for holding the census — the fifth since the Independence — was in full swing. He said, “For the first time, Bangladesh will use digital enumeration map and unique geo-coding system to process census data in the shortest possible time and disseminate results simultaneously in hard copies, soft copies and on webpages.”
Census would be conducted in three phases, he said. “In the first phase, one main census comprising collection of basic characteristics of all households and population of the country will be held. In the second, post-enumeration quality check survey to determine the coverage and content error of the main census will take place.
“In the last phase, sample data collection from about 1 per cent household with a long questioner on detailed socio-economic characteristics to supplement the main census will be done.”
UNFPA’s Arthur Erken said the census was considered a vital mechanism for providing adequate data set on the population at all levels of the administrative machinery.

Courtesy of The Independent