Population Dynamics
As of the year 2011, seven billion people now live on Earth. Much has to be done in order to reduce poverty, to provide universal access to health care and family planning, and to decrease our high consumption of resources. This is where DSW steps in with its development programmes and advocacy work.
Many women give birth to more children than they want due to a lack of contraceptives and effective family planning. With the implementation of our Youth-to-Youth Initiative, we are educating thousands of young people in Africa about their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and on how to create a healthy and independent future for themselves.
Furthermore, DSW's comprehensive advocacy work is done by talking to and engaging with national, local and international political authorities. In our dialogue we advocate for the necessity of voluntary family planning and reproductive health.
Treating the Wider Issues affecting Health
- Photo: JLogan, CC licence BY-SA 3.0
Poor, vulnerable populations who—with few alternative opportunities for livelihood and health—are both most at risk and often excluded from political decision making. Truly responsive development rests upon the primacy of improving lives in the poorest of communities; and for this reason, DSW works to promote policies and programmes that are effectively pro-poor.
Through projects such as the EU-funded Healthy Action, we are helping local health organizations in developing countries to strengthen their own capacity to advocate for better health services in their districts. With improved skills at policy dialogue and in communicating their needs with decision makers—in the formulation, budgeting and implementation of policies and programmes—they are given a stake within development that is directly benefiting their communities. Providing a role for the excluded, and offering a chance to seek alternative options, is essential towards treating the wider issues of environment, economy and demography that aggravate health outcomes.
