Charles Wendo And Denis Ocwich
20 September 2004
Kampala — Peninah Abuo married early and produced 16 children. She is a housewife in Bululu, Kabermaido district. She did not go to school. Neither did her husband, a fisherman. None of her children went beyond primary school. They either provide farm labour or do petty business.
Mrs. Hope Mwesigye is a lawyer, Member of Parliament and Minister. She produced four children. Three of them have been to university and the other, still in secondary school, will follow.
Generally, the rural woman is most likely to have nine or more children who do not go beyond primary school and are inadequately fed. She will also probably be very poor and has less access to maternity services.
On the other hand, the urban woman is most certainly having fewer children, between two and four. The children will be better educated and better fed hence have longer life span. The educated mother will have easy access to maternity services.
That explains why the UN considers population reduction as the centre-piece of the global plans of action against poverty.
"Enabling people to have fewer children (if they want to have children, helps to stimulate development and reduce poverty, both in individual households and in societies," says The State of World Population 2004 report.
Both the global population report by the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA) and State of Uganda's Population 2004, were released last Wednesday. They both call for reduction in population growth rates through, among others, women's empowerment.
"Poverty dramatically increases a woman's chances of dying. The lifetime risk of a woman dying in pregnancy or childbirth (maternal mortality) in West Africa is one in 12 (1:12) women. In developed regions, the comparable risk is one in 4,000 (1:4,000)," says the UNFPA report.
"Lack of reproductive health care will continue to be the leading cause of death of women in developing countries," said James Kuriah, the UNFPA representative in Uganda.
In terms of infant mortality, 86 babies out of 1,000 live births in Uganda die before they reach one year. More infants, however, die in Tanzania (100 per 1,000 live births) than in Uganda. Kenya's infant mortality rate is 69:1,000 and Rwanda has infant mortality of 112 out of 1,000 births.
But compared with developed countries, Africa is still worse off in infant mortality. In Sweden and Japan, only three babies out of 1,000 die at birth.
Although fertility is falling in many developed countries, it is still high in poorer countries, which will add 1.7 billion people in the next 40 years. Developed countries like Sweden and Japan, have only 0.1% population growth rate.
Although a big population of skilled people is an asset, a rapid, unplanned population growth is a liability. It stresses women, who produce many children at short intervals. It also puts pressure on land and other resources.
"Slower population growth has in many countries increased those countries' ability to attack poverty, protect and repair the environment, and build the base for future sustainable development," says the global population report.
Overall, the global population is rising by 76 million persons per year, compared with Uganda's one million per year. It is estimated that by the year 2050, an additional 2.5 billion (the number equal to the total world population of 1950), will increase the current 6.4 billion people in the world to about nine billion by 2050. By then, Uganda will have hit an all-time high of 103.2 million people, more than four times the current 26.7 million.
Globally, the average family size has declined from six children per woman in 1960 to around three today, as family planning becomes more accessible and widely used.
But in the developing countries, including 38 African countries most affected by HIV/AIDS, fertility rates are still high. Uganda, for instance, with an average HIV prevalence rate of around 6%, has an average annual population growth rate of 3.4% and a fertility rate of 7.10.
On average, a Ugandan woman gives birth to seven children. And more teenage girls (aged 15-19) are giving birth, which is why many girls do not complete secondary school. This makes Uganda one of the most fertile countries.
"On average, three out of 10 girls (30%) produce when they are still teenagers," said Charles Zirarema, acting director of the Uganda Population Secretariat. He blamed the high fertility on high unmet need for family planning, low use of contraceptives and low child spacing."
"The fertility rate is low in central region and highest in northern region," said Zirarema.
Uganda beats all the East African countries in fertility. Kenya, with a growth rate of 1.5%, has a fertility rate of 4.00, and Tanzania's population is growing by 1.9% at a fertility rate of 5.11. Which means more babies are being born in Uganda than in the other East African countries.
Population analysts attribute this to little access to family planning and illiteracy, which hinders women's power to understand the negative impacts of giving birth to several children.
At least 41% of Ugandan women (and 21% of men) are illiterate, compared with 31% in Tanzania and 21% in Kenya. This explains why Kenyan and Tanzanian women give birth to fewer children than Uganda.
Uganda however, does best in education. With the Universal Primary Education (UPE), Uganda surpasses almost all countries in the world in gross primary school enrolment. Unfortunately, most of the children do not complete secondary level school.
Uganda is also better than all the East African countries in life expectancy at birth. A male person born in Uganda is expected to live up to the age of 45.4 and a female at 46.9. The expectancy rates are better than Tanzania (42.5 for males and 44.1 for females); Kenya (43.5 / 45.6); and Rwanda at 38.8 for males and 39.7 for the women.
Globally, the life expectancy is 63.6 for men and 67.6 for females.
Some 2.8 billion, two in five, still struggle to survive on less than $2 a day. In Uganda, 38% (10 million) of the population is below the poverty line.
"Poverty perpetuates, and is exacerbated by poor health, gender inequality and rapid population growth," says the report. One of the causes of poverty is rapid population growth.
As Kuriah puts it: "High population growth undermines poverty reduction."
Whereas smaller families have more to invest in children's education and health, those with several children have to share out the little resources available among several children, hence inadequate social services and shorter life expectancy.
"Poverty exacerbates and is exacerbated by poor health, gender inequality and rapid population," says the UNFPA report, adding that the right steps include strengthening women's rights to reproductive health, their education and gender balance within the family and society.
It adds: "Developing countries which have reduced fertility and mortality by investing in health and education, have higher productivity, more savings and more productive investment, resulting in faster economic growth."
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