Children let down by lack of family planning
February 15th 2012
The recent Save the Children forecast on child hunger highlights the human cost of the world’s failure to invest in reproductive health. The report forecasts that half a billion children could grow up physically and mentally stunted over the next 15 years because they do not have enough to eat.
Simon Ross, chief executive of Population Matters, commented: “This report indicates the human cost of the current lack of family planning provision. Resource prices, including food, are rising, driven by growing human numbers and global industrialisation. This will increasingly put pressure on the world’s poorest. Governments and the international community should put reproductive health at the heart of their development and sustainability programmes.”
There are currently 215 million women with an unmet need for family planning, according to the Guttmacher Institute. These numbers could well rise substantially as the number of people entering their childbearing years continues to increase, particularly in Africa.
Notes
A Life Free from Hunger: Tackling child malnutrition – Save the Children Feb 2012
http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/resources/online-library/life-free-hunger-tackling-child-malnutrition
Facts on Investing in Family Planning and Maternal and Newborn Health – Guttmacher Institute Nov 2010
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/FB-AIU-summary.pdf
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