In 1992, the world’s largest leading voluntary family planning organisation — the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) — celebrated its 40th anniversary.
An article in The Fiji Times published on Wednesday, December 2 that year said since it began in Bombay, India, in 1952, IPPF had seen the effects of the development of the pill, the Pope’s Humanae Vitae encyclical which banned artificial contraception, and the growth in world population from 2.5 billion to 5.4 billion.
It said the number of governments adopting population policies had grown from one to more than 100 while the rate of contraceptive use had risen from 12 per cent to 51 per cent worldwide.
The article reported that IPPF, founded by eight national family planning associations (FPAs), had expanded to include 134 countries and had become the leading authority promoting and supporting family planning services worldwide by the late 1960s.
The organisation dealt with related population issues and stressed the benefits of spacing and planning births for the whole family, especially mothers and children.
IPPF was instrumental in advocating family planning in international bodies such as the World Health Organization and the United Nations.
At the time, IPPF, which had its headquarters in London, was reportedly the world’s largest non-governmental organisation after the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
The organisation grew on the principle that uncontrolled fertility damaged women’s and children’s health, and that the world population was growing beyond the earth’s carrying capacity.
It aimed to make voluntary family planning information and services available to couples worldwide and was funded by governments and private donors.
In addition, IPPF had begun placing more emphasis on reproductive and sexual health to halt the spread of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
Challenges at the time included increasing male involvement in family planning, educating young people, and promoting the empowerment of women.
IPPF returned to India in October 1992 to celebrate its anniversary with a major international conference on family planning issues in New Delhi.
