Zero Population Growth in RI targeted for the year 2080
Zero Population Growth in RI targeted for the year 2080
DENPASAR, Bali (JP): Indonesia could reach Zero Population
Growth (ZPG) in the year 2080 if the country succeeds in reducing
the fertility rate to 2.1 persons in 2020, an expert said on
Monday.
United Nations Family Planning Association (UNFPA) official
Nessim Tumkaya -- one of the speakers at the family planning
conference which opened on Monday -- expressed guarded optimism
that Indonesia could meet the target, saying that the country had
managed to control its birth rate.
Indonesia's population accounts for 205 million people with a
population growth rate of 1.6 percent, meaning the country adds
3.28 million people per year.
Indonesia is one of the four centers of excellence in the
family planning program in the world. The UNFPA initiated many
programs for other countries to learn from Indonesia's
experience. One such program was the international training
program launched 12 years ago.
The one-week conference is to evaluate the outcome of the
program. There are 25 participants from 12 Asian countries and 45
participants from donor foundations.
UNFPA is the Indonesian family planning program's biggest
donor. Since the 1970s, UNFPA has granted more than US$100
million to the program, and during the economic crisis the
association topped up the funds with an additional $20 million to
support continuation of the program.
However, Nessim urged the government to strengthen the
program, saying Indonesia was still one of the countries in the
world with a high maternal mortality rate, with between 350 and
400 deaths.
In his opening address to the conference, Minister of
Transmigration and Population Al Hilal Hamdi called on non-
governmental organizations and donor countries to support
Indonesia to reach zero population growth.
"The government cannot achieve the effort on its effort," he
said.
Al Hilal also said the family planning program in the country
should treat women as subjects -- not objects -- of the program.
The conference committee earlier announced that 90 percent of
family planning program participants are women.
Al Hilal said Indonesia should endorse a principle that all
couples and individuals be allowed to make a voluntary
reproductive choice, adding that the ability to carry out these
choices was a basic right.
The minister said the program should broaden its scope with
efforts to prevent Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus (HIV), which
leads to the deadly Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
(zen/04)