<span style="color: #222222;">Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan today said that the strategy of putting family planning at the core has helped to achieve remarkable results. He said, these efforts have taken India closer to reaching the replacement fertility level of 2.1 and 25 States and Union Territories have already achieved replacement level fertility.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Dr. Harsh Vardhan today chaired the virtual meeting on the occasion of World Population Day. He said, World Population Day is important as it emphasizes on the importance of population stabilisation and its vital role in the future of the masses and their health. He said, it is even more critical now to recognize the importance of providing reproductive health services due to the challenges posed by COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, in the last decade alone, our Crude Birth Rate has reduced from 21.8 to 20 while the Total Fertility Rate has declined from 2.4 to 2.2.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Referring to the Prime Minister's commitment to Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, he urged everyone to make the Population Stabilization Mission an equally powerful people's movement. He emphasized that family planning provides dignity to women, especially who are poor and marginalized.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Dr Harsh Vardhan said, India is a fundamental part of the Global FP2020 Movement and government has invested substantial domestic funding to achieve the ambitious goals. He said, all this investment has paid us rich dividends in terms of averting nearly 5.5 crore unintended pregnancies, 1.1 crore total births, 18 lakh unsafe abortions and 30 thousand maternal deaths as a result of contraceptive use in 2019 alone.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The Health Minister also released the Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centres Mobile application developed by Ministry of Health and family Welfare. The app is designed to streamline the process of data reporting at these centres. It will provide real time information related to screened people, dispensation of health care services and drugs, footfalls and referrals made to Primary Health Centres. Noting that COVID-19 has imposed additional responsibilities on the frontline health care workers, Dr Harsh Vardhan praised the Health and Wellness Centres for their tireless services towards COVID-19 and ensuring the non-COVID essential services.</span><br />''