Demographics

Every woman’s right How family planning saves children’s lives

Published by: 
Save the Children

Family planning is a fundamental right. More surprisingly perhaps, it’s also vital to improving children’s chances of survival. Ensuring women are able to plan whether or when to have children means babies and young children are more likely to survive, and it saves the lives of adolescent girls and women who are pregnant. And it helps countries to achieve their goals on development, and improve the lives of many millions of people.

State of world population 2011: People and possibilities in a world of 7 billion

Published by: 
UNFPA

How did we become so many? How large a number can our Earth sustain? These are important questions, but perhaps not the right ones for our times. When we look only at the big number, we risk being overwhelmed and losing sight of new opportunities to make life better for everyone in the future. So instead of asking questions like, “Are we too many?” we should instead be asking, “What can I do to make our world better?” or, “What can we do to transform our growing cities into forces for sustainability?” We should also ask ourselves what each of us can do to empower the elderly so they can play a more active role in their communities. What can we do to unleash the creativity and potential of the largest youth cohort humanity has ever seen?

Community Based Situational Analysis: Maternal and Neonatal Follow Up Care

Published by: 
Health Systems Trust
Reduction of mortality and morbidity of both the mother and the newborn have been identified as priority areas needing urgent attention by the Department of Health. The maternal mortality ratio for South Africa was estimated in the South African Demographic and Health Survey of 1998 to be 150/100 000 births. This rate is however, thought to be rising, as the estimate from the latest Saving Mothers Report places the estimate at 175-200/100 000 births. The extent of morbidity is not known but it is estimated that for every woman that dies of a pregnancy related complication, 20 more suffer from morbidity such as vesico-vaginal fistulae which may be severe and lead to long term disabilities.