The elite in developing countries have been blamed by the State of the World Population report for taking the ability to decide on how many children one should have for granted. Currently representing one-sixth of the worlds population residing in Africa. The population is on the rise at over 1.2 billion people, a figure which cannot be sustained be the continents economic growth. The report was released by the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF.)
The African environment is being severely effected buy the accelerated population growth. During the last half century some 500 million hectares of land as well as 65% of agricultural land have been affected by soil degradation. This is a major factor in increasing poverty in Africa by constraining food production.
The number of malnourished people in Africa has more than doubled in the last 50 years, from 100 million in the 1960’s to roughly 230 million people to date. 150 million people are subject to acute food deficiencies and possibly as many as 50 million are actually poor and starving. Looking at the current Projections, the region will only be able to feed around 40% of its population by the year 2025.
The State of the World report sparked controversy in a number of circles by re-affirming that family planning and access to contraceptives are not only human rights, but also a policy tool to improve women’s reproductive and economic health. While some critics insist that increasing family planning places reproductive rights over religious liberties, others will argue that the potential impact of such policies at the ground level is too powerful to ignore.
In a lot of the African countries, the implementation of family planning policies is further challenged by social and cultural barriers that surround the acceptance of contraceptive methods. This is due to the misconceptions about family planning in some cultural traditions, says Dr. Akinyele Dairo, Sexual and Reproductive Health Senior Program advisor at UNFPA. “You can have a full supply of contraceptives,” he explains, “but without awareness and acceptance, they will expire before people come to use them.”
Dario and UNPFA are working together to improve how the benefits of family planning services are communicated to policy makers and populations. This includes the involvement of high-level stakeholders such as parliamentarians and religious leaders, but also mass media awareness campaigns on radio and television.
According to the report, making voluntary family planning available in the developing countries could reduce the costs for maternal and newborn healthcare by at least 11 billion annually. The costs of ignoring the right to family planning include poverty, exclusion, poor health and gender inequality. It is suggested that the access to contraceptives is the key to controlling population growth. This aspect has been faced with criticism in many African countries because of their religious and cultural beliefs.
Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Nigeria have some success stories of adopting the family planning services into the country, however an astonishing 222 million people in developing countries remain in dire need of these services.
In July 2012, 2.6 billion was pledged by donor countries and foundations at the London Summit on family planning. The money donated to help make family planning available to more than 120 million women in developing countries with unmet needs by 2020. Developing countries pledged to increase support themselves. However, an additional 4.1 billion is necessary each year.
Experts believe that targeting the youth is the best way to control Africa’s growing population, as they comprise of over half the population of the continent. They suggest that it is better to put youth-friendly family planning services in the institutions they go to, or out in the open where they can easily access them