Lucknow : Siddharth Nath Singh the Uttar Pradesh medical and health minister has his expressed concern over high fertility rate in UP. The minister said this at the launch of “Aakar” Phase 2, a project of Mobius foundation that aims to promote population stabilisation in the state.
Sharing views on this special project the minister said, “I have lent my support to this initiative because the fertility rate in UP is quite high.”
He said community awareness programme was key to reduce fertility rate. “More foundations should come forward and join this initiative. When a reputed NGO collaborates with government’s initiatives, I firmly believe that the targets and goals are achieved easily,” Singh said.
Phase 1 of project Aakar was completed in December 2018, covering 200 villages of the two highly populated districts of Uttar Pradesh, Baharaich and Barabanki. Taking it forward, Phase-II of the project will focus on the health counselling of married couples and school students falling in the marriageable group of 17 – 20 years, said Pradip Burman, founder of Mobius Foundation.
Aakar project intends to spread awareness about the health impact of early marriage and early child with the help of Community Health Centre (CHC) and Primary Health Centre (PHC), he said.
Research statistics reveal that only 31.7% couples in UP use modern contraceptive methods indicating the current perception and behaviour of the public towards family planning. According to the National Family Health Survey, 2015-16 (NFHS-4), Uttar Pradesh has India’s second highest maternal mortality rate (258 deaths per 100,000 live births) and highest infant mortality rate (64 deaths per 1,000 live births).
