World Population Day（世界人口日）
[ 2007-07-23 11:36 ]
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 2004 marks the 10th anniversary of the groundbreaking
International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo,
Egypt, in 1994.
Ten years ago, on the eve of World Population Day, a new campaign was
launched to raise awareness of how international family planning helps
save women and children's lives, safeguard the environment, and slow
population growth. 179 governments committed to it when they signed the
Program of Action of ICPD, which prescribes the steps that will not only
save millions of women's lives but empower（授權, 使能夠）societies to achieve a better
future.
Today, there are more than 6 billion people on the planet, with half of
the world's population under the age of 25-at or just reaching their childbearing（分娩）years.
Nearly 600,000 women still die each year from pregnancy-related causes.
And an estimated 90 percent of infants whose mothers die at childbirth
will not survive to their first birthday.
Wild species are becoming extinct 50 to 100 times faster than they
naturally would, because of the impact of rapid population growth and
increased population density in many countries.
Though population growth is slowing worldwide, more than 90 percent of
current growth occurs in the developing world where needs are great and
resources are scarce. And these nations have a huge unmet need for family
planning services-over 150 million married women of reproductive age in
the developing world indicate that they would prefer to postpone
childbearing but are not using any method of contraception.
"Girl born today in the developing world faces better prospects than a
girl who was born 10 years ago. School enrolment rates are increasing,
mortality is declining and life
expectancy（平均壽命） is rising, more and more women and couples are
able to choose the number and spacing of their children and many countries
are taking additional steps to confront HIV/AIDS. But progress is uneven,
and in some cases slipping backwards. We need the strength and
determination of a marathon（馬拉松賽跑）runner to
meet our goals during the next
decade." | |
