Awareness campaigns in over 700 colleges
LUCKNOW: Aiming to bring down population growth and apprise the students of the right age for marriage , the state health department will carry out awareness campaigns in over 700 colleges.
Briefing the media on Friday about the initiatives for the World Population Day principal secretary Arvind Kumar said total fertility rate in Uttar Pradesh was 3.1, second highest in the country, and there was need to bring it down.
“The total fertility rate has come down in the past years but we need to bring it down further. And that is why we have decided to reach out to eligible couples and make them aware of the family planning services,” he said. Apart from the couples, the students in the state will also be told about the right age of marriage as statistics say over 50% of the girls below 18 years of age get married which can adversely affect infant mortality rate in the state. The health department is presently conducting eligible couple contact fortnight (June 27 to July 10) and population stabilization fortnight from July 11 to 24. “About 6,000 ASHA sangini will also be trained for family planning counselling. Another helpline 104 will also be launched within two months,” said Alok Kumar, executive director, SIFPSA.
Explaining about the help line Rigzian Samphel, AED, SIFPSA said the health partners forum established in 2012-13 was being set up at division and state levels to provide a common platform to meet the mission’s objectives through concentrated efforts.
Total fertility rate is the number of children who would be born per woman (or per 1,000 women) if she were to pass through the childbearing years bearing children according to a current schedule of age-specific fertility rates.