IT IS considered a blessing in most cultures for parents to have many children.
But how many children is too many?
World Population Day is held every year on 11 July and even if the day has gone, its message is critically important, globally as well as to each family.
This year’s theme is “Family Planning is Human Rights”,
At the 1968 international conference on human rights, the Teheran Proclamation officially recognised family planning as a human right by stating: “Parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children.
Men and women have the right to choose when and how often to embrace parenthood – if at all.”
SunHealth spoke to Maloka Thesele (47) and his girlfriend Sibongile Ngale (44) about this issue: “We have a four-year-old daughter and we planned it all beforehand.”
Family planning includes non-discrimination. Family planning services cannot be restricted on any basis be it race, sex, language, religion, politics, nationality, age, economic status, place of residence, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or anything else. Countries must provide family planning services products of good quality to everyone.
