Highest Births record in India On New Year’s Eve: Need better Family Planning in 2021?

Currently, UNICEF has recorded the total number of births on New Year’s eve. Among developed and developing countries, India is leading on top with a total count of 59,9995 birth numbers. Besides, 371,504 babies were born worldwide on New Year’s eve. Do we need a reformed family planning programme in 2021 amid covid 19?

What is the Family Planning Programme?

Family planning programs have been a key public health intervention in developing countries; demographic, health, and human rights each of these components can be viewed as goals for family planning programs because each implied achieving certain improvements in a country.

Therefore, the importance and urgency of family planning in India have to be understood in the context of the rapid population, and the persistence of comparatively poor social indicators in spite of a booming economy (UN-International Conference on Population and Development, 1994). 

However, the recent Human Development Index (HDI) value of India was estimated as (0.640), which puts the country at the 130 ranks out of 189 countries in the medium human development category, but there are still more efforts and progress are needed to make the country better than before (Ieda, 2012; Tiwari, 2012; UNFPA, 2011).

Need to adopt family planning amid Covid19

 

• Preventing pregnancy-related health risks in women

A woman’s ability to choose when to become pregnant has a direct impact on her health and well-being. Family planning allows making an adequate space between 2 children. Besides, It prevents unintended pregnancies, including those of older women who face increased risks related to pregnancy. 

• Socio-Economic Status

Economic Status also plays a very crucial role along with education, and according to Skirbekk (2008), economic factors include people’s perception about the children as

productive assets or economic burden. Therefore, a family of higher social class or economic status will tend to have more children with comparatively better upbringing than those of low socioeconomic status, and the fertility rate tends to increase with an increase in income of the family (Docquier, 2004).

Contrary to this, an inverse relationship between income and fertility were also seen in many studies i.e. lower fertility level among rich families as compared to marginalized having higher fertility rate (Adhikari, 2010; Cleland et al., 1988; Pradeep, 2014),

• Reducing infant mortality: FPP helps to reduce the death rates of infants and mothers.

• Helping to prevent HIV/AIDS: 

Family planning helps in the reduction of the risk of unwanted pregnancies for women living with HIV, Therefore, the programs help people to be educated and aware of the repercussions of it. 

• Empowering people and enhancing education

Family planning helps people to make wise and informed decisions on the basis of multiple factors. Factors like education, income, and health status. Besides, studies claim that small families are more able to grow potentially in terms of education and wealth. 

• Slowing population growth

It’s a major aim of this whole program is to reduce the adverse impacts of high fertility on the economy, national development, and environment.

• Reducing Environmental pressure

Low fertility rate include creating a healthy environment for all, it reduced pressures on public funds and a period for dealing with environmental pressures also for managing typically limited resources, such as water

However, the results of family planning programs have been very changeable in the process. The effectiveness of this program depends on several factors, like a favorable political setting, a well-structured program that offers contraceptive methods, flexibility in adapting to local conditions, and stable funding sources.

 

Conclusion

The estimated current global population is 7.7 billion and India is ranked in the second position and the UN has also estimated that India will most likely to reach the first position to become the most populous country in 2030 caused by its rapid annual growth rate (1.64%) as compared to (1.23%) global rapid annual growth rate (Census India, 2011; NFHS-3, 2005-6).

Besides, India is a developing country where poverty is the major issue that limits affordability, accessibility, and availability of the basic resources to fulfill their needs related to food, health, education, and employment opportunities, consequently, that increases infant mortality rates, maternal deaths, and malnutrition. 

Therefore, the country had to launch the family planning program in 1952 to combat the high fertility rate and to eradicate poverty by implementing various approaches, and ‘population control’ was the first among all (Drèze, 1999; Seltzer, 2002). 

However, recently, UNICEF has recorded the total number of births on New Year’s eve. Among developed and developing countries, India is leading on top with a total of 59,9995 birth numbers in 2021. Besides, 371,504 is the total baby were born worldwide on New Year’s eve. 

Thus, by looking at the facts above, it is mandatory to reform or strengthen the family planning approach in the coming years. 

 

Bibliography:

 

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Cleland, J., & Rodríguez, G. (1988). The Effect of Parental Education on Marital Fertility in Developing Countries. Population Studies, 42(3), 419-442. doi:10.1080/0032472031000143566

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Seltzer, J. (2002). The Origins and Evolution of Family Planning Programs in Developing Countries. Santa Monica, CA; Arlington, VA; Pittsburgh, PA: RAND Corporation. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7249/mr1276wfhf-dlpf-rf

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Tiwari, S. (2012). Factors Influencing Unmet Needs for Family Planning Among Currently Married Women in Nepal. University of Tromso, Norway. Retrieved from https://munin.uit.no/bitstream/handle/10037/5366/thesis.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y.

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