News & Updates
10 Jul 2020
Celebrating World Population Day 2020: A Virtual Dialogue On Young Couples' Access to Family Planning

On the eve of World Population Day (10th July 2020), C3, under its Naya Daur initiative, supported by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, organized a virtual dialogue that brought both global and regional experts together to shed light on innovations in family planning in the context of COVID-19 as well as beyond it. The conversation touched upon how to maximize efforts to build on and accelerate the family planning gains achieved in the last decade, improving the access of young couples to family planning services in the high-burden state of Bihar, and strategies for family planning uptake that could be implemented during and even after the pandemic. The esteemed panelists for the virtual dialogue included Dr S.K Sikdar, Advisor, Family Planning, MoHFW, GoI; Dr. Niranjan Saggurti, Director, Population Council; Dr. Venkatraman Chandra Mouli, WHO Geneva; Dr. Hemant Shah, Chief of Party, BTSP, Care India; and Ms. Sandhya Venkateswaran, Deputy Director, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. While the dialogue was moderated by Dr. Aparajita Gogoi, ED, C3; and Ms. Medha Gandhi, Country Lead FP, BMGF; Shri Mangal Pandey, the Hon’ble Health Minister of the Government of Bihar, addressed the issue of family planning in the state of Bihar through a special video message. All in all, 316 participants from the Government of India, Government of Bihar, academia, civil society, and multi-lateral organisations, participated in this webinar.