Minister tips on population control

Nov 15, 2009

HIGH population growth can be controlled if the Government addresses infant mortality, girl-child education and boosts household incomes, planning state minister Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu has said.

By Raymond Baguma

HIGH population growth can be controlled if the Government addresses infant mortality, girl-child education and boosts household incomes, planning state minister Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu has said.

Kamuntu said Ugandans produce many children because with a high infant mortality rate, women are not sure if their children will survive infancy.

“There is guesswork that if I produce five children, two will survive. The population should be shown that infant mortality is controllable,” he said.

The minister was on Friday speaking at a national dialogue on the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) programme.

The dialogue was attended by ministers, MPs, government officials, civil society organisations and the academia.

He added that with a population of 31 million growing at a rate of 3.2% per year, there is need to control the rate of growth by keeping the girl-child in school and extending the rural electrification programme.

He said if the youth have the right skills and long life expectancy, they can become an engine for economic growth.
Hannington Burunde, the head of information and communication at the Population Secretariat, said Uganda’s growing population, if not checked, will negatively affect the country’s education, health, economy, agriculture and environment sectors.

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