World Population Day 2012: Universal Access to Reproductive Health Services

World Population Day 2012 PosterOn 11 July we observe World Population Day to highlight the urgency and the importance of population issues. This year, many activities and campaigns will call attention to the essential part that reproductive health plays in creating a just and equitable world.

Reproductive health is at the very heart of development and crucial to delivering the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)’s vision – a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.

Universal access to reproductive health by 2015 is also one of the targets of the Millennium Development Goals; but we have a long way to go.

On the occasion of World Population Day and the London Summit on Family Planning, which is taking place today (11 July), we recorded a short video interview with Kate Gilmore, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNFPA Deputy Executive Director (Programme), on the importance of family planning.

cinema32x32 DblueKate Gilmore: “World Population Day 2012 will be remembered as the day for putting family planning at the heart of realising the human rights of women, young people and adolescents.”

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The London Summit on Family Planning is organised by the UK Government, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UNFPA and other partners to launch a global movement to give an additional 120 million women in the world’s poorest countries access to life-saving family planning information, services and supplies by 2020. You can follow the summit live here.

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