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Creating a More Sustainable World   
Oct. 21, 2011 – On October 31 this year, the world population is expected to reach seven billion. Since the fall of 1999, the world population has increased by one billion people. This rapid increase is going to severely impact the world’s already strained resources. Continued growth at this rate is unsustainable. There is light at this end of this tunnel. We can begin to regain the balance between the population and the world’s resources if we do more to meet the huge unmet demand of women to limit their births. Since 1975, CEDPA has implemented family planning and reproductive health programs around the world and gained entree into many communities that previously rejected family planning or child spacing. The programs not only lowered birth rates in these areas, but also increased opportunities for women and improved the health of their families. Most recently, CEDPA implemented the David and Lucile Packard Foundation-funded Family Welfare/Kyautatawa Iyali project in the Bauchi, Kano and Plateau states of Nigeria. This decade-long project successfully provided culturally appropriate and integrated, community-based family planning and reproductive health services. Over one million women, men and youth in northern Nigeria received contraceptive commodities, and the use of modern contraceptives significantly increased from 26.4 percent in 2008 to 32.8 percent in 2010.
One beneficiary of the program was Olojo*, a catholic man from Jos, Nigeria. He was against family planning, but then his wife became pregnant for a second time only three months after giving birth to their first child. She developed placenta previa and was on bed rest for six months, leaving her unable to care for their first baby. Now Olojo sees the benefits of child spacing. “I will tell all my friends who do not believe in family planning to practice it by choosing a method,” he said. Olojo is just one of over 300,000 individuals reached in 2010 through the Family Welfare project with the help of local partners such as the Mayaka Health Education and Mobilization Agency. When the project first began, the project encountered a great deal of resistance. To counter this opposition, outreach efforts were put in place to reach religious and traditional leaders, and several champions were created within the communities to educate their fellow community members about family planning. The project made a concentrated effort to engage men in the community. The men were invited to become male motivators to help dismiss the traditional and cultural misconceptions surrounding family planning. In addition to the increase in contraceptive use, the programs had multiple unexpected successful outcomes. Early marriage in the community dropped, and school enrollment among young girls increased. Through programs like this one, CEDPA is empowering men and women to take control of their lives and the health of their families. By reaching individuals like Olojo, we can begin to create a more sustainable world. Read more about CEDPA’s programs in family planning and reproductive health. *Pseudonym |
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