Yesterday, on World Population Day, the United Nations Population Fund officially launched 7 Billion Actions \u2013 a campaign to raise awareness and action around our planet’s growing population, which is set to reach 7 billion later this year.<\/p>\n
The campaign is a wake-up call to the health, environmental, and social challenges associated with rapid population growth. It is also a wake-up call to the importance of voluntary family planning.<\/p>\n
In 2011, more than 200 million women worldwide are still denied access to desired family planning services due to unavailable resources or lack of support from their husbands and communities. As a woman, I believe it is time to make universal access to family planning a global priority. And as a woman, I believe it is essential to welcome men into the conversation.<\/p>\n
Why Family Planning?<\/strong><\/p>\n According to World Health Organization statistics, approximately 1,000 women die every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Over 99 percent of these maternal deaths occur in the developing world, in countries where a mother’s death can leave children \u2013 and entire families — in a perilous scenario.<\/p>\n Many, if not the majority, of these women want smaller families but often do not know how to prevent pregnancies. During my travel as Global Ambassador for the public health organization PSI (Population Services International), I have personally met some of these women.<\/p>\n I remember Therese, a woman in the Democratic Republic of Congo, who was so desperate after having given birth to six children that she ingested poisonous herbs to terminate three different pregnancies — leaving her in agonizing, life threatening pain. Her husband, Victor, watched each time in helpless fear. Like his wife, he had never been given information on family planning methods that could protect his wife and his family.<\/p>\n Their story is all too common and is a reminder that family planning communication must incorporate men into the equation.<\/p>\n