World Population Day Today
‘Check high birth rate to get benefit of dev’
Staff Correspondent
All development efforts of the government will be nullified and people will be deprived of the benefits of development programmes if the high birth rate in the country is not controlled, said Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain yesterday."Controlling high birth rate, therefore, is a great challenge for us," he said at a press briefing at the Secretariat on the eve of the World Population Day today. This year the theme of the day is 'Young People'. The minister said population of the country will reach 25 crore in 2085 if it takes 10 years more to ensure 'Replacement Level Fertility' (RLF) where only mother or her daughter will have fertility. The government has targeted 2010 to reduce the present Total Fertility Rate (TFR) from 3.0 to 2.1 with various reproduction-related programmes, he added. If the goal is achieved, population of the country will reach 17 crore 20 lakh by 2020 and 21 crore by 2060 when the population growth will reach at a stable position, the minister said. "But if the country takes 10 years more to achieve the RLF, the population will reach 25 crore in 2085," he added. The minister said the world population will reach 1300 crore in 2067, the adverse impact of which will be mainly felt in the developing countries. "It will be then hard for the governments of the developing countries to meet the basic needs of people," he said, suggesting that all must work together to prevent such population growth. The minister said a notable part of the young people in the country marry at an early age, which is why the rate of maternal and child morality is very high. "It is only social awareness and education that can lead to formation of planned family," he added. The minister said as per government target 72 percent people will get various family planning devices, 75 percent mothers will have healthcare during pregnancy, 50 percent will have safe delivery apart from bringing the total fertility rate to 2.1, maternal mortality rate to 2.4 and newly born child mortality rate to 20 by 2010. Asked if the government has any specific programme for the poor people who are the major victims of population growth, the minister said there are Family Welfare Assistants who go door to door in the villages across the country and deliver service on family planning. Responding to another question he said the rural clerics do not issue fatwas anymore on the use of contraceptives as they are now aware of it.
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