Pretoria - Government has reaffirmed its commitment to tackle the remaining development challenges that continue to confront the country.
Marking the 21st Anniversary of World Population Day, Social Development Minister Edna Molewa said this year's World Population Day theme "Everyone counts" lies at the centre of the South African Population Policy and reaffirms government's commitment to ensuring people remain at the centre of all development endeavours.
"We reaffirm our commitment to tackle the remaining development challenges that continue to confront our country, this includes the socio-economic imbalances and the growing inequality between the rich and the poor, urban and rural disparities, high unemployment, particularly among young people, ageing population and mitigating the impact of HIV and AIDS to make our people the driving force and ultimate beneficiaries of development.
"We will accelerate progress on key issue of national importance of gender equality and women empowerment through expanded access to education and health services, skills development and employment, and full participation in policy and decision-making processes at all levels of government and society," Molewa said.
The World Population Day is observed on 11 July every year with the view to bring governments' attention to the growing world population and many development challenges this pose to the environment and natural resources.
Since the day fell on the same day as the final match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the national commemoration for this year's World Population day has been postponed to August and will be held at Parliament in Cape Town.
The highlight of the event will be the official launch of the report: "Progress review on the implementation of the White Paper on Population Policy for South Africa and the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action".
