World Population Day was established by the Governing Council of the United Nations in the year1989. It was inspired by the public interest in Five Billion Day on July 11, 1987, the approximate date on which the world's population reached five billion people. Medicircle is conducting the World Population Day Series to raise awareness among the public about the impact of overpopulation on humans and the environment.

 Dr. Rini Naik is a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynecologist practicing at Healthway Hospitals at Panjim and She has done her master's of Surgery in Obstetrics and Gynecology DNB and has a fellowship in dynamic Endoscopy. She has several clinic research papers published in renowned national and international journals. She has expertise in pregnancy care and delivery, various gynecological surgeries like hysterectomy, myomectomy, laparoscopic tubal ligations, and other diagnostic and operative laparoscopic surgeries. 

She also manages infertility and does our UI treatments for her patients. She has conducted several medical checkups and pap smear screening camps for women across Goa. She has also held talks and conducted webinars on reproductive health issues for women and adolescent girls. She aims at providing the best and affordable health care to women across all the socio-economic groups in the state of Goa

Impact and ill effects of the ever-increasing population 

Dr. Rini Naik informs, “As you know, the sun or anything in excess always puts tremendous pressure on the environment. So, rapid population growth definitely will affect the environment. In order to meet the demand for food, energy, and housing of this increasing population, we need to speed up without urbanization and industrialization. 

And in that bargain, the forest and agricultural lands are now destroyed in order to build housing complexes to build up industry, etc. All this leads to land degradation. So, this, in turn, causes problems like 

Soil erosion Land pollution  Extinction of plant and animal species Increasing traffic  Air pollution Increased transportation Increased use of fossil fuels Release of these harmful gases like carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases and to the environment Disruption of the ozone layer  Global warming Water pollution  Overpopulation with overcrowded housings Increase in the slum areas Improper waste disposal from the residential areas from the industries into the water bodies, Contaminating the water bodies Overfishing Reduced diversity of marine life.  Climate change that we are seeing now Disruption of natural balances by man-made activities  Unprecedented floods Natural different natural calamities, like cyclones, hurricanes, tsunamis”

The economic impact on the ever-increasing population 

Dr. Rini Naik states, “For example, if there is no population growth in a high-income country, there will be a deficit in the workforce and thus its economy will be hampered. Similarly, if there is overpopulation in a low-income country, it will exhaust its resources and that will designate unemployment and poverty which will hamper the country's economic growth. So, also many factors like age structure of the population size of the country's workforce, international migration, all these factors affect the country's economic impact in India. In the current population, 67% of it is in the age group of 15 to 64 years, which contributes to our workforce. Therefore, it is expected that in the next coming few years, our Indian economy will definitely have a boost provided we might get the COVID situation under control”.

Government can help with some control measures

Dr. Rini Naik states, “The government has to play a very important role in controlling population, right so they can take certain social measures and certain economic measures to curb the population.  

Social measures include, as you already know, according to the Indian law The minimum age for marriage is 21 for men and 18 years for women Compulsory marriage registration Restrict the age limit of marriage Education for all education Adopt a small family in order to balance their life Current girl-child education should be the government's top priority Right the education especially in rural areas  Adoption should be promoted Several Affordable medical treatments  Spread of awareness regarding family planning  Several mass media or social media campaigns  Health talks on different family planning methods organized by the local governments, especially in these rural areas. Sex education Prevent the children from abstinent Use contraceptive measures thereby preventing teenage pregnancies  Permanent sterilization operations Childcare leave promotions should be extended to the working class couples  Strict enforcement of laws on child labor beggary

Contraception can help in controlling population 

Contraception is very important and I think it should be made freely available and accessible to everyone. So, there are so many measures. I usually suggest my patients consider five factors before they choose birth control. 

Effectiveness Reversible or irreversible  Side effect Relationship status between the couple  Frequent intercourse or long-distance relationship  Cost of the contraceptive method

Methods of contraception 

Dr. Rini Naik informs, “Now based on the effectiveness of the contraceptive, I will discuss all the birth control measures that are so the most effective method that is more than 99% effective is the permanent sterilization of patients.

This is beneficial for couples who have completed their family and they are absolutely sure that they do not wish to have any more children in the future. So, they undergo a convenient sterilization operation. For females, it is a tubal ligation and for males, it is an even easier operation that is so passive.  So, these are simple minor operations do not require a prolonged hospital stay and these can be opted for by those people who do not wish to have any more children right but couples who want long term contraception and do not want to opt for permanent measures for them  There are other options which are intro tracking devices. These are also very effective, more than 99% effective.  These include contraceptives which are available free of cost in all the government centers as well as in private centers.  These are inserted in the uterine cavity and they need to be removed after either five years or 10 years.  The second option is the progesterone-released contraceptive device. Now, these are a little expensive, but very effective and need to be changed every five years.  There is an intraabdominal implant as well. Now, this implant is inserted underneath the skin. So this is a little tedious procedure, but it's effective for three years, but insertion and removal sometimes may be a little tedious, but a very good option.  You should obviously consult your gynecologist before you start.

(Edited by Dr. Rati Parwani)