https://nextedition.com.ng/2018/11/13/just-despite-population-concerns-icfp-2018-opens-kigali-without-nigeria/

The 2018 International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) was declared open Monday by Rwandan Prime Minister, Èdouado Ngirente, with a call for continued investment to improve the well-being of people all over the world.

But Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa and which has more family planning issues than other countries on the continent was conspicuously absent at the event.

Representatives of international organizations, government functionaries and non- governmental organizations around the world presented goodwill messages at the opening ceremony.

This theme for this year’s conference which is taking place from November 12-15, at the state-of-the-art Kigali Convention Centre is, “Investing for a Lifetime of Returns.”

In his keynote address, Dr. Ngirente urged countries to increase efforts in equal rights in family planning and described it not only as a women’s issue but also a development issue.

“Family planning is not just a women’s issue, it is a development issue and affect all of us.”

He also emphasized the extensive and far-reaching social and economic benefits of investing in family planning and called for global commitments to address challenges in conception access.

“Family planning is one of the most cost-effective ways to improve the well-being of people in all countries.

“The African continent is very youthful and the biggest challenge facing African leaders today is how to harness our youthful population into agents of sustainable development. Investment in young people and human capital, in general, can enable us to harness a demographic dividend across our continents,” he said.

The prime minister also highlighted achievements of the Rwandan Government in gender equity saying women are 50 per cent in the cabinet and 61 per cent in Parliament.

“Our Constitution provides that women occupy at least 30 per cent of positions in decision-making organizations. Women represent 50 per cent in the current Cabinet and 61 per cent of Parliament,” Dr. Ngirente said.

Other speakers highlighted findings from the 2018 Annual Report released Monday by Family Planning 2020 (FP2020), a global partnership focused on enabling an additional 120 million women to access voluntary by 2020.

According to the report, since 2012, 46 million more women and girls who want to avoid or delay pregnancy have begun using a modern method of contraception in the world’s 69 poorest countries.

This represents an increase that is about 30 per cent greater than the historic trend, bringing the total number of women and girls with access to modern contraceptives to 317 million in these regions.

“As of July 2018 the number of women and girls using a modern contraception was the highest in history,” said Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund.

Dr. Kanem also expressed her worries over the existing gaps in access to modern contraceptives to a large number of women and girls across the world.

“It’s my biggest worry that we still have a long way to go to bring lifesaving modern contraceptives to every woman and girl who wants to prevent pregnancy, no matter where she is or who she is, so it’s time to pick up the pace. Let us build on the progress we’ve made until we achieve our ultimate goal: Universal Access.”

Also speaking, Dr. Christopher Elias, president of the Global Development Programme at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, urged stakeholders around the world to think out of the box to keep their promises to women and girls in their various countries.... READ MORE https://nextedition.com.ng/2018/11/13/just-despite-population-concerns-icfp-2018-opens-kigali-without-nigeria/