Phl welcomes symbolic 7 billionth baby

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines welcomed shortly after midnight Sunday the symbolic seven billionth baby – a girl born at the government-run Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Medical Center in Sta. Cruz, Manila.

Danica May Galura, the second child of common-law couple Camille Galura and Florante Camacho, weighed 5.5 pounds at birth.

“We just welcomed the seven billionth human being. I think this is symbolic in the sense that we would like every Filipino and, of course, every human being that comes into this world, (to be) born with dignity and with all the opportunities in being able to achieve to the fullest the potential of his being a human being,” Health Secretary Enrique Ona said.

Danica May’s birth came amid an explosion of camera flashes in the delivery room.

“She looks so lovely,” Camille whispered softly as she cradled her tiny baby.

“I can’t believe she is the world’s seventh billion,” she said.

Florante, her partner, quietly stood in a corner wearing a white hospital gown as television crews and photographers crowded to get a shot of his daughter.

The parents and the baby were met by United Nations officials in the Philippines including UN Population Fund Country Representative Ugochi Daniels, who presented the child with a cake.

There were also gifts from local benefactors, including a scholarship grant and a livelihood package to enable the parents to open a small retail store.

Also on hand to witness the event was 12-year-old Lorrize Mae Guevarra, who the Philippines declared as its own symbolic six billionth baby in 1999 when the world reached that demographic landmark.

“I am very happy to see this cute baby. I hope like me she will grow up to become healthy and well loved by everyone,” said Guevarra, who is now in the sixth grade.

The UN named a Bosnian baby, Adnan Mevic, as the Earth’s six billionth inhabitant on Oct. 12, 1999. The secretary-general at the time, Kofi Annan, was pictured in a Sarajevo hospital with Mevic in his arms.

Current UN chief Ban Ki-moon will not be seen cuddling a newborn. He has said the seven billionth baby will be entering a “world of contradiction.”

“Plenty of food, but still a billion people going to bed hungry every night. Many people enjoy luxurious lifestyles, but still many people are impoverished,” he said in an interview with Time magazine.

The Mevic family is now struggling in poverty at their Sarajevo home, which is partly why no baby will be put in the global spotlight this time.

Danica May is one of several children in countries around the world being declared a symbolic seven billionth human.

It was hoped she would arrive at exactly midnight, but she was delivered two minutes early.

Ona said the arrival of the world’s seven billionth baby also presented the Philippines with an opportunity to assess population related issues.

Other countries launched similar celebrations. Zambia is throwing a seven billion song contest; Vietnam is staging a “7B: Counting On Each Other” concert; Russian authorities are showering gifts on selected newborns and the Ivory Coast is putting on a comedy show.

Call to action

 “It is a symbolic event, a call to action for everyone that we’re now seven billion in the world and we have responsibilities,” Daniels said of the birth of the seventh billion baby. She clarified that the issue is not about overpopulation.

“It’s not about counting people, but it’s about making people count, ensuring that they have access to education, access to health and to employment. That they have access, particularly for women, to reproductive information and services so that they can plan when they’re going to have kids, how many kids they’re going to have, and what is the spacing going to be,” Daniels added.

She said that while the Philippine population remains young, with people under 25 making up 54 percent of the total, they needed to be taught proper “life skills” and about sexual issues.

She said that while women were having fewer children globally, the overall population continued to increase.

“While our world of seven billion represents a complex picture of trends and paradoxes, there are some essential global truths we observe,” she said. “Conversely, there is no one global population outlook.”

The UNFPA, in its “2011 State of the World Population Report,” said 10 percent of girls in the Philippines aged 15 to 19 have started child bearing, with many of the young also increasingly vulnerable to HIV.

Also based on the report, the Philippines is the 12th most populous nation, with 94.9 million inhabitants.

But according to Commission on Population executive director Tomas Osias, the country’s population is actually not 94.9 million but 95.8 million based on National Statistics Coordinating Board data.

“You need to plan for your population, provide services they need to live productive lives. It’s not just for countries with large population. Meet the needs of your people. Every individual has a responsibility. If you are in the world today, you have a responsibility,” he said, apparently addressing world leaders.

The UNFPA report showed that of the seven billion people worldwide, Asia accounts for 60 percent. China’s population of 1.13 billion is still the biggest, followed by India at 1.24 billion.

The same report stated that 893 million people are over 60 years old and the figure is likely to nearly triple to 2.4 billion by the middle of the century. The average lifespan is now pegged at 68 years compared to 48 in 1950.

The agency warned that in most parts of the world, “where population growth is outpacing economic growth, the unmet need for reproductive health care, especially voluntary family planning, remains great.”

The report also showed that in some of the poorest countries, high fertility rates hamper development and perpetuate poverty.

While in some of the affluent nations, low fertility rates and too few people entering the job market are raising concerns about prospects for sustained economic growth and the viability of social security systems. 

With about two babies being born every second, the seven billion figure will keep racing ahead in decades to come – to more than 10 billion by 2100, according to UN estimates.

The UN predicts that India will overtake China as the world’s most populous nation by 2025, when it will have almost 1.5 billion people.

The UNFPA report highlights how the world will face growing problems finding jobs for the new army of young people, especially in poor countries.

It also sounds alarms over how climate change and population growth are adding to drought and famine crises; the management of megacities like Tokyo; and aging populations such as Europe’s.

“This is not a matter of space – it’s a matter of equity, opportunity and social justice,” UNFPA executive director Babatunde Osotimehin said.

Opportunities

For Sen. Edgardo Angara, the booming population may also be a source of opportunity for nations, including the Philippines, to hasten growth.

He said that while the Aquino administration needs to arrest the country’s growing population, it should also find ways to tap opportunities a large population offers.

The country’s population is expected to reach 103 million in the next four years.

“There are seven billion people in the world today. By 2025, there will be eight billion, 61 percent of whom will be from what is now predominantly developing Asia,” Angara said in a speech before the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris, France on Friday.

“What these figures underscore is the imminent opportunity for dozens of developing nations to ascend the economic ladder and realize a better quality of life for their peoples.”

Angara said the Philippines should seize the opportunity as it enters a new demographic window in 2015 up to 2050, based on a UN study.

“Societies at this demographic stage have proportionally large working-age populations. They are, therefore, at their highest demographic potential for economic growth,” Angara said.

“The Philippines will not be entering this period alone. The demographic window for South Africa, Tajikistan, El Salvador, and French Guiana will begin at the same time. And every five years hence, until 2070, developing nations in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean will be entering theirs,” he said.

He also said advancements in information and communications technologies (ICT) are revolutionizing the way people live, learn, interact and do business.

“At the crux of this revolution is innovation. Indeed no society, no institution, no individual can survive such a rapid and relentless flow of change by being stagnant or passive,” he said.

“The Philippines, in particular, must invest in our country’s science and engineering capacity if we are to realize our demographic potential – if our nation of tens of millions is to survive the onslaught of change, much less prosper amid it,” he said.

“If the present administration wishes to leave a meaningful legacy, it should start building it now,” he said.

Angara chairs the Senate committee on education, arts and culture as well as the congressional commission on science, technology and engineering. With Christina Mendez