Stand up and be counted for World Population Day

Be part of the awareness around overpopulation

In the last century the world has seen the discovery of life-saving penicillin, the invention of the jet engine, and the advent of the World Wide Web. Along the way Planet Earth became the global village that it is today. Yet while the world grows smaller
with communication and travel, its population continues to increase.

As part of the Government Employees Medical Scheme's (GEMS) ongoing effort to educate our members and future members on a range of healthcare topics, we would like to provide you with some valuable information on World Population Day.

World Population Day is commemorated on 11 July every year, which was the day in 1987 when the world's population reached five billion. It has since become an important day on the international calendar, marking one of the greatest global issues facing our world today - population growth.

Today, thirteen years later, there are over 6.8 billion people living on the planet and that number is estimated to grow to over 7.5 billion by 2020. Sadly, this rapid growth in population means that habitable land-mass has and will continue to become overpopulated, resulting in a shortage of resources such as food and water, as well as pollution of the environment and disruption of natural balances in the ecosystem.

World Population Day is marked to raise awareness around the problems that arise from overpopulation and to encourage people to get actively involved in solving these issues. Each year the United Nations Population Fund sets a theme for the day. This year the theme is "Everyone Counts". According to the UNPF this aims to raise awareness around the importance of collecting reliable, disaggregated data for the progression of population control.

Because the number of people in the world has grown so much higher, the time has come to gather more accurate, meaningful figures about worldwide population. For example, this year firm figures are being gathered about how the population has increased and where figures have dropped off.

Although the world is overpopulated, there are some factors that contribute to keeping the population down including natural disasters, war and disease. The latter is particularly evident in South Africa, the country with the highest number of HIV-positive individuals in the world.

One of the greatest challenges facing South Africa today is providing meaningful healthcare to those who need it. A great amount of pressure is placed on the South African healthcare system to work harder towards achieving the three health-related United Nations Millennium Development Goals - to reduce child mortality, improve maternal health and combat HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases. These healthcare issues affect the population negatively, which has led to an almost static population growth rate in the country.

South Africa has a population estimate of 49.68 million. The country's population growth rate has dropped from 1.38 percent in 2002 to 1.07 percent in 2009. This drop in growth rate is largely attributable to the increase in AIDS-related deaths from 38.6 percent in 2001 to 43 percent in 2009.

A result of the prevalence of HIV in South Africa is the low life expectancy; 53.5 years of age for men and 57.2 years of age for women recorded in 2009. In addition to this, many babies contract the virus via mother-to-child transmission. One of the most important solutions to stopping the spread of the virus is education about safety precautions such as the use of condoms.

On a global scale, birth control measures like the Pill can also contribute dramatically to decreasing population growth. Educating both men and women about safe sex and reproductive health remains a topical issue around reducing the prevalence of HIV/Aids and taking a more positive, proactive approach to population control. 

This year World Population Day encourages individuals to become actively involved in the collection of population information. The South African Government will endeavour to collect accurate population statistics in 2011 with the next national census since 2001. This new, updated information will shed more light on the population statistics of the nation, providing Government with improved tools to reassess and reach population goals.

Sources:
Stats SA - www.statssa.gov.za
The United States Census Bureau - www.census.gov
Avert: International Aids Charity - www.avert.org
The United Nations Population Fund - www.unfpa.org
The United Nations - www.un.org