• September 04, 2018

Population bomb and voluntary family planning in low income countries

From scientific evidence to political agenda

In 1968 the book “the population bomb” by Professor Paul R. Erlich from Stanford University, appeared in the american bookstores, predicting an explosive growth of the population inversely proportional to the bioavailability of natural resources.

Erlich’s prophecy promptly has came true when, on 19 August 2018, the world reached the Overshoot Day, the day in which the human need for resources has finally exceeded the planet’s regenerative capacity.

The current growth of the population is driven above all by the African continent which, in less than 100 years, will probably facing the quadruplication of the current population, from 1 to 4.2 billion of people.

On the contrary, in Europe and other countries of the first world there will be a slow decrease of the population. Nevertheless, it is precisely looking at Sub-Saharan African countries that we can affirm the best governmental practices for a “slow re-entry” have been traced.

The “demographic bomb”, increasingly related to the phenomenon of Climate Change, is one of the main causes of migratory movements from territories bent by natural disasters and where geopolitical tensions often lead to war conflicts.

The aim of the conference is to show how family planning investments can be crucial to strenghten the protection of human rights, to reduce maternal-neonatal mortality and, in the long term, to conserve the natural resources of our planet.

University of Milan Aula 201, Via Festa del Perdono 7 .

16,45PM October, 5th, 2018

Seminar Language Enghlish, Italian translation available

PROGRAMME*

17,00 – 17,30: Opening address

Attilio Fontana, President of Lombardy

Manlio Di Stefano, Undersecretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation

Mulugeta Alemseged Gessese, Ambassador of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in Rome

Fabio Mosca,  Pediatrician – Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Director at Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Maggiore Hospital and Professor at the University of Milan

Filomena Gallo, Secretary of Associazione Luca Coscioni

17,30 – 17,50: Every pregnancy wanted is key to achieve a home for everyone.

By Dr Tarek Meguid, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist in Mnazi Mmoja Hospital and Associate Professor at the State University of Zanzibar, Tanzania

17,50 – 18,10: Investing in family planning: optimizing the potential to achieve the demographic dividend

By Dr Eugene Kongnyuy, Obstetrician & Gynaecologist, Deputy Representative United Nations Population Fund, Nigeria

18,10 – 18,30: High fertility, high maternal mortality, high neonatal mortality: a vicious cycle

By Dr Jennifer Hall, Epidemiologyst, UCL, London

18,30 – 18,50: Overpopulation or youth bulge? The consequence of high fertility on population structure

By Letizia Mencarini, Demographer, Dondena Centre for Research on Social Dynamics and Public Policy & Department of Management and Technology – Bocconi University, Italy

18,50 – 19,10: Family planning as a crosscutting issue: how to influence a donor to set up a priority?

By Michele Usuelli, Pediatrician – Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Maggiore Hospital in Milan and Member of the Regional Parliament of Lombardy, Italy

19,10 – 19,30: Access to Family Planning Services as a Human Right: International Advocacy and Litigation Opportunities .

By Cesare Romano, Professor of Law and Director of the International Human Rights Clinic, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles

Closing remarks by

Marco Cappato, Treasurer of Associazione Luca Coscioni

Interactive Discussion