Passage 71 World Population Day

Last Tuesday was World Population Day.
The message this year was Saving Women's Livers.
The director of the United Nations Population Fund,
Nafis Sadik,released a statement in ovservance of the day.
Doctor Sadik said that the lives of women around the world are full of risk.
She said more than 500,000 women die each year as a result of pregnancy.
She said many more pregnant women become sick
or injured because of their condition.
Doctor sadik said pregnancy is even most dangerous for young women.
She said girls between the ages of ten and fourteen
are five times more likely to die from the condition than women ten years older
The UN agency director also discussed women and their increased
risk of getting the virus that causes AIDS.
Doctor Sadik said there are 2,000,000 more African women
with the HIV infection than African men.
She said women also are at higher risk for getting other diseases
spread through sexual activity.
The UN official urged all people to take action to save women's lives.
She said people must support equal rights for women.
Doctor Sadik said women should receive the same eduction
and health care as men.
The UN official said many women do not have the freedom
to make decisions to control their lives.
60% of the poor people in the world are female.
Doctor Sadik said 65% of the people who can not read or write are women.
And she said 350,000,000 women can not get reproductive health care.
In some places,even knowledge about reproductive health is limited.
Michael Vlassoff is the representative for the UN Population Fund in India
He says people there know about very few methods to prevent pregnancy.
He says most people in India only know about operations
that end a woman's ability to become pregnant.
Mister Vlassoff also says the UN is very concerned
about the difference in the number of females and males in India.
He says the most recent Indian government census showed that
there are 927 females for every 1,000 males.
The UN official says Indian culture values males more highly than females
He says this leads too often to the ending of pregnancies
in which the fetus is female.