Control population growth
Oct 24, 2003
UGANDA’S CONSIDERABLE progress in economic growth and extension of social services is bound to be undone by very high population growth.
UGANDA’S CONSIDERABLE progress in economic growth and extension of social services is bound to be undone by very high population growth.
The United Nations Development Programme representative says all the major successes in national development may be ruined if growth rates and high maternal mortality are not checked.
At 3.4% per annum, Uganda’s growth rate is one of the world’s highest. And with economic growth averaging about 5%, the gains made against such high population growth are not sufficient to sustain a healthy economy for long. This is aggravated by the fact that a big portion of the population is under 15 years of age, and are therefore not productive.
Fertility rates are about seven children to every woman. This immediately translates into strains on the resources of a family, with feeding, healthcare, education and living costs becoming burdensome.
But not all is lost. Kenya did manage to control its population growth, having had the world’s highest rate in the 1980s. Health, population and economic planning officials drew up a strategy that essentially revolved around educating the public. A ubiquitous billboard that showed a man (pregnant) with a swollen stomach was quite poignant, emphasising the need for responsibility by otherwise thoughtless males. Kenya did emphasise quality of life, including education and health being the primary responsibility of the home. Pioneering the extensive use of Norplant, an implant contraceptive, in the developing world, Kenya was able to ensure that rural women who previously did not have access to good family planning could now control their families.
Let us learn from the Kenyans.
Ends
The United Nations Development Programme representative says all the major successes in national development may be ruined if growth rates and high maternal mortality are not checked.
At 3.4% per annum, Uganda’s growth rate is one of the world’s highest. And with economic growth averaging about 5%, the gains made against such high population growth are not sufficient to sustain a healthy economy for long. This is aggravated by the fact that a big portion of the population is under 15 years of age, and are therefore not productive.
Fertility rates are about seven children to every woman. This immediately translates into strains on the resources of a family, with feeding, healthcare, education and living costs becoming burdensome.
But not all is lost. Kenya did manage to control its population growth, having had the world’s highest rate in the 1980s. Health, population and economic planning officials drew up a strategy that essentially revolved around educating the public. A ubiquitous billboard that showed a man (pregnant) with a swollen stomach was quite poignant, emphasising the need for responsibility by otherwise thoughtless males. Kenya did emphasise quality of life, including education and health being the primary responsibility of the home. Pioneering the extensive use of Norplant, an implant contraceptive, in the developing world, Kenya was able to ensure that rural women who previously did not have access to good family planning could now control their families.
Let us learn from the Kenyans.
Ends