On population growth and development

This year alone, Minister of Health Dr Jean Kalirani has twice sounded desperate over Malawi’s booming population. Backed by UN data, the growth paints a gloomy and scary future. If unchecked, this will continue to have drastic repercussions over an already shrunk economy and its resources. But are there any radical steps to reverse this?

Governments have a mandate to support its citizens with facilities such as health care, education, housing, good jobs and most importantly, food, all intended to reduce poverty and to improve overall quality of life for the people. However, in the absence of adequate resources, overpopulation usually hinders provision of such facilities. In the process, this creates discontent between those who contribute to economies through heavy tax regimes.

In response to population growth, in 1980, the Republic of China instituted a one-child policy as a temporary measure to control population boom. According to media reports, the consequences of this policy are twofold; On a positive note, it is said that China has prevented over 400 million births. Sadly, there has been an emergence of a more elderly population than youngsters, creating a demographic crisis. It has also led to brutal enforcement through forced abortions and gender imbalances as traditionally, couples mainly prefer male than female children, thus forcing elimination of daughters through abortions, abandonment and infanticide in what is also called gendercide.

Population growth ought to concern every citizen as it continues to affect us all in various ways. This is the time that anyone who irresponsibly reproduces is taken to task by, for instance, paying for health services, agricultural inputs and now building materials.

It is obvious that with freebies, government has accepted to shoulder unnecessary responsibility and in the process making those who toil daily to heavily pay for mistakes committed by others. I would be glad if my tax is used to procure drugs that I can access in public hospitals. I should be comfortable to send my children to public schools because I am sure they will access quality education. But sadly, while my hard-earned money is taxed at gunpoint, I rarely use government facilities either because they are overcrowded, of poor quality and not conducive for what they are established for.

While the government sounds desperate, it will be great if we could seriously consider complementary policies that should control population growth. And again, learning from the perceived consequences child bearing policies have had in countries such as China, this will raise human rights and other related issues, but, eventually, it will be great to critically assess the kind of people we are dealing with and whether through diplomacy, they will understand the benefits of manageable families.

It seems family planning methods have not fully achieved their intended outcomes and if they are to, this should take more years to come. Without being biased, I strongly believe that birth control, just like HIV and Aids messages have reached every corner of this country but we have deliberately chosen to engage in practices that perpetuate population growth.

For sure, this shall remain a sensitive issue, but time will come for the  government to implement a policy that  limits the number of children to, at most, three. Some quarters have argued that the limitation should be based on one’s economic status but this still remains debatable as to how it can be implemented.

We do not want to be in a situation where those who toil day in, day out continuously pay for those who deliberately create poverty through continued production of children. Taking responsibility for our actions without expecting regular support from the government is the key issue.

Obviously, quality living standards which we all desire will only be achieved if the government channels its resources towards more crucial issues for the benefit of each one of us.

For sure, we all have freedom to make as many children as we could, but this should not be at the expense of others. Where possible, this pain must be shared as child-making is a choice. n

The author is a training officer at the Baobab Health Trust