The UN Conference on Population and Development in Cairo during September 1994 aimed to find ways of limiting population explosion over the next 20 years (until 2015). Present world population is 5.6 billion and may double in 50 years, which would seriously compromise resources. In this article, abortion is viewed as the most controversial conference topic, which had to be carefully defined as a public health problem rather than a means of birth control. Other issues which generated considerable conflict of opinion included immigration quotas in developed countries and reservations about the "rights" of immigrants to reunite with families. Agreement was reached about the "fair principle" of reuniting families. The nongovernmental organization agenda was unsuccessful in promoting the issue of women's vulnerability to political and economic causes of migration and awareness of women's lack of access to independent refugee status or political asylum for sexual oppression. Every chapter in the UN Conference document had a reference to women. Chapter Eleven's topic on access to education for both boys and girls was diluted from "equal" access to "fair" access due to Muslim objections based on sacred writings. Taboo subjects included women's control over their bodies and premarital sex, human rights, and respect for cultures. The conference never affirmed the free right of women to make decisions about their bodies. Participants would have preferred greater attention to development issues such as the rapid decline in fertility in countries such as Colombia, Zimbabwe, Thailand, and China. The link between economic growth and population control was viewed by the conference as hypothetical. A well-known French demographer stated that the "major squanderers" of world resources are countries with low birth rates. The overpopulation fear is defined as the fear of having to share or restrict even surpluses. The most prominent statement at Cairo was made by Mrs. Bhutto, who said that it is mothers who bring children into the world and not states.
An analysis of 46 posters from 27 countries of Sub-Saharan Africa allowed the values conveyed by this medium to be defined, the status of the announcer and the recipient to be clarified, and their relationship and the attendant social consequences to be brought out. One of the primary characteristics of this sample was that the vast majority of the posters contained drawings and only a limited number used photos. The family was the theme most commonly represented by the image and the text: information on family planning necessarily involved the family, the synonym of fertility. The majority of posters represented the traditional, nuclear family of the Western world, comprising the father, mother, and children. It was interesting to observe that this image did not necessarily reflect reality in Africa, where traditionally the extended family, including the grandparents, uncles and aunts, is more widespread. The message most commonly conveyed the image of the nuclear family. The number of children shown varied from 1 to 4, with an average of 2. The most widely used message strategies in this sample of posters involved three types of announcer: authoritarian, nonauthoritarian, and character announcer. The authoritarian type announcer was not visually depicted but consisted of messages that were written orders or threats. The nonauthoritarian announcer, also not depicted, gave messages that contained no orders or threats. The character announcer was one the characters portrayed in the picture.
