Young African influencers would be encouraged to reduce their own population at the International Conference for Family Planning  —Photo : Pexels.com 

By Joanne of Arc for Quebec Life Coalition

The International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) was a 4-day event which happened in Thailand this year.

The ICFP took place between November 14 and November 17 in Pattaya City, Thailand at the Pathaway Exhibition and Convention Hall (PEACH). It is said to be the “largest scientific conference on family planning” in the world. The conference was organized by John Hopkins University on behalf of its Bloomberg School of Public Health, Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health Institute. 

 Although minors could not attend in person, it was available for anyone who would like to participate virtually as there was no age restriction for online attendance if a parent or guardian would sign a waiver. Their website advertised the event as more than a conference, but a “platform, movement & community”. According to their site, more than 125 countries participated and their community counts over 40 000 active members. 

Amongst the ICFP’s main sponsors we could find the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization(WHO), IPPF, Pathfinder, Women Deliver, United Nations and the government of Canada. 

Their opening ceremony started with a dance show depicting demons, quite literally. The host for the ICFP 2022 opening session was Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health. She explained that this “incredible performance” was “an episode from the play on the epic of Ramekin. It depicts the  royal battle between Rama and Laksman on the one side and the Tosca & the demon of king Lanka on the other.” She explained a short story about the battle and concluded “Tosca retreats into Lanka with his army of demons.” and proposed a round of applause for this play. 

 This performance was followed by a promotional video that promoted the coming of “another world” where “women and men can choose whether & when to have children”, “adolescents and youth have access to contraceptives”, “childbirth is safer for women & babies” and “everybody deserves access to family planning services & products”, in other words abortion and contraception. The belief that was reinforced throughout their promotional video of the opening ceremony and the entire conference was that “without family planning there is no universal healthcare” as their theme for this year was uniting family planning and universal health coverage as “human rights”.