Dhaka: World Population Day is being celebrated worldwide including Bangladesh on Wednesday to spread awareness and discuss issues related to population growth.

In 1989, the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme recommended that July 11 be observed by the international community as World Population Day, a day to focus attention on the urgency and importance of population issues, reports the UNB.

The theme of World Population Day 2018 is ‘Family planning is a human right’, marking the 50th anniversary of the 1968 International Conference on Human Rights, where family planning was, for the first time, globally affirmed to be a human right.

The conference’s outcome document, known as the Teheran Proclamation, stated unequivocally: ‘Parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children.’

Different organisations have chalked out elaborate programmes to observe the day across the country.

The main event of the day was held at the Osmani Memorial Hall in Dhaka at 10:30 am, where Parliament Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury was present as the chief guest.

A colourful procession was also brought out in the capital, marking the day.

Meanwhile, President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have issued separate messages on the occasion.

In his message, the President urged all concerned to come forward to ensure the standard health services to mother and child to build a healthy nation.

The Prime Minister, in her message, urged all concerned to ensure the best use of all establishments set up at grassroots level to provide family planning, mother and child healthcare and reproductive health services in order to build a healthy nation.