NAHARLAGUN, Jul 13: To mark the World Population Day (July 11), the Department of Community Medicine of TRIHMS, Naharlagun organized an international symposium with the theme “Population: A Multi-pronged approach”, wherein experts from different fields across various countries shared their insights and experiences to help delegates understand the complexities surrounding various population issues - be it waste management, reproductive health, gender equality, gender-based violence, and migration or opportunities that may be hidden.
The event was organized in collaboration with international NGOs Global Forum for Sustainable Rural Development (GFSRD), SRICASW, and SHHFI. The speakers Dr I Made Wahyu Wijaya from Indonesia, Dr Payel Biswas Soo and Dr Rabindra from India, G Bosco Rajah from Sri Lanka, and Coach Wisani Climent Maluleke from South Africa not only discussed the problems but offered sustainable solutions, and discussed how they have been practicing these solutions.
TRIHMS Director Dr Moji Jini spoke about how the norms and roles of various units of the population are changing continuously and especially in current times when both female and male roles are increasingly overlapping.
Former Special Secretary of MoHFW, Meenakshi Dutta Ghosh, in her keynote address, stressed upon the need for planned urbanization as 70% of the total global population will be staying in urban areas alone by 2050. She also stressed upon this year’s theme of World Population Day “Unleashing the power of gender equality: Uplifting the voices of women and girls to unlock our world’s infinite possibilities” and stressed how the wants and needs of women and girls matter as they contribute for 49.7% of the global population, yet they are often ignored and their rights violated in population policies.
Dr Amrita Sarkar, associate professor in the department of Community Medicine, TRIHMS, and honorary head of the Public Health wing of GFSRD, paid homage to Dr KC Zachariah, the famous Indian demographer from Kerala, to mark the day when the world population reached five billion on July 11, 1987. She added that recently, there have been two notable population milestones. In November 2022, the global population reached a significant milestone of eight billion people. Additionally, in April this year, India surpassed China to become the world's most populous country, according to estimates from the United Nations. These developments highlight the ongoing challenges and implications associated with global population growth, she said.
GFSRD founder Dr Jayanta Choudhury spoke about various population-related issues. He added how a well-educated and skilled population becomes an asset instead of a liability and how GFSRD along with its 17 global centers in various parts of the world are working towards it.
The feedback from attendees was overwhelming and there were representatives from many African countries including South Africa, Sierra Leone, Congo DRC, Nigeria, etc. Asian countries of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, and India and the European country of Greece and the organizing team urged all to take a pledge to implement the learning from the event to cause a positive change in the society, a release from TRIHMS said.