World Population Day: July 11, 2010

by Paul Arnote (parnote)

July 11, 2010 marks the 21st annual World Population Day, with the theme "Everyone Counts". Started in 1989, World Population Day was born out of the interest generated by the Day of Five Billion on July 11, 1987. This month’s cover of The NEW PCLinuxOS Magazine, by Timeth, commemorates World Population Day.

Sponsored by the United Nations Population Fund, or UNFPA, it supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect. As an international development agency, they promote the rights of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity.

In past years, the themes have been "Fight Poverty: Educate Girls (2009)", "Plan Your Family, Plan Your Future (2008)", "Men At Work (2007)", "Being Young Is Tough (2006)", "Equality Empowers (2005)", "ICPD at 10 (2004)", and "1,000,000,000 Adolescents (2003)".

World Population Day 2010, Everyone Counts, will underscore the importance of data for development. It will foster an understanding of why reliable, disaggregated data is so crucial to progress and encourage people to participate in the census and other data collection efforts.

The UNFPA focuses their campaign on several different fronts. These include:

• Reproductive Health
• Population and Development
• Data Collection and Use
• Gender Equality
• Human Rights
• Adolescents and Youth
• Safe Motherhood
• Cultural Sensitivity
• HIV/AIDS
• Emergencies
• HIV and Young People

Additionally, the UNFPA looks at climate change, and its effects on world population and poverty.

For additional information on the UNFPA and their activities, visit their web site at http://www.unfpa.org/public/pid/1.