AS thousands of groups in 140 countries gathered to mark World Population Day yesterday, the United Nations has called for more action to promote women’s rights and reduce the millions of deaths resulting from unwanted pregnancies.

“How much morality is there in saving an Ethiopian child from starvation today, for it to survive [for] a life of brutal circumcision, poverty, hunger, violence and sexual abuse, resulting in another half-dozen such wide-eyed children, with comparably jolly little lives ahead of them?” a columnist in a rival newspaper wrote during the week.