FP as a critically important intervention to achieve the MDGs

Malcolm Potts MB, BChir, PhD, FRCOG

University of California, Berkeley

“The evidence is overwhelming, the MDGs are difficult or impossible to achieve with the current levels of population growth in the least developed

countries and regions” - All Party Parliamentary Group on Population,

Development and Reproductive Health

 

58,000 pupils in schoolBUT

11,000 more pupils each day in Pakistan &

Afghanistan 

MDG 3: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005 ,

and at all levels of education not later than 2015.

0.00

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

6.00

7.00

8.00

1955

1960

1962

1964

1966

1968

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1982

1985

1988

1990

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1995

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2006

TF

R 2 per. Mov. Avg. (TFR- Iran)

2 per. Mov. Avg. (TFR- China)

Voluntary FP

One-child policy

Voluntary family planning

When barriers are removed, family size falls

Iran: number of university students by sex. 1969-2002

MDG 6: to halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015.

• The incidence of new HIV infections is falling in India.

• No country in the Middle East and Asia is going to have a self sustaining heterosexual epidemic.

MDG 7: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and

programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources.

Cost Verses Tonne of Carbon Averted

Investment in family planning is highly cost-

effective

India

Malcolm add your title here: Global Health Money is not spent rationally….

“Meeting the unmet need forfamily planning has been highly successful in slowing rapid population growth. Ready access to contraception and safe abortion has decreased family size, even in illiterate communities living on less than a dollar a day.”

YemenThe ultimate population size depends on when the country reaches

replacement fertility.

2010-15: TFR = 4.65

“There is an intrinsic link between the challenge we faceto ensure food security through the 21st century andother global issues, most notably climate change,population growth and the need to sustainably managethe world’s rapidly growing demand for energy andwater. It is predicted that by 2030 the world will need toproduce 50 per cent more food and energy, togetherwith 30 per cent more available fresh water, whilstmitigating and adapting to climate change. Thisthreatens to create a ‘perfect storm’ of global events.”John Beddington, UK Government Chief Scientistwww.agricultureandfoodfordevelopment.org/inquiry.

The Perfect Storm