The US and Malawi governments Tuesday expressed worry over the rate the country’s population is growing, describing it as “way too much” for a country like Malawi.
Director for USAID Health Office in Malawi, Peter Halpert, and Principal Secretary for Health, MacPhail Magwira, sounded the concern in their separate addresses during the launch of the Family Planning Costed Implementation Plan (CIP) 2016 – 2020 in Lilongwe.
Halpert said the country’s population growth might be the most significant threat to Malawi’s long-term development and prosperity if it remains unchecked.
“Forty million people,” said Halpert, pausing for effect. “That is the estimated number of people that will be living in Malawi by the year 2040 if women continue to have five or more children in their families – that is more than double the current population.
“Why this rapid population growth is a serious issue is because it puts a tremendous strain on already stretched sectors, including health, agriculture, education, and economic development.”
The USAID Malawi Health Office Director said the country was already experiencing food shortages every year, periodic stock outs of vital drugs and medical supplies, increasing scarcity of land, and that the problems would be even greater when Malawi’s population reached 40 million.
He added that USAID would continue to support the Malawi government to increase access to reliable information and quality services, recognizing that a couple’s decision to have a child is part of their reproductive rights.
“The United States Government does this because issues of population growth in one country have great impact on the rest of the world,” said Halpert.
In his keynote address before officially launching the Family Planning CIP 2016 – 2020, Principal Secretary for Health, MacPhail Magwira, said government was equally concerned with the population growth hence, the establishment of the CIP 2016 – 2020.
“Forty million people by 2040 will indeed be a mammoth task considering that we are already struggling with a population of 16 million plus,” said Magwira, adding, “This is why government is intensifying family planning and reproductive health services to save lives, lower levels of unplanned pregnancies and increase survival rates of under-fives.”
He said although Malawi was a model in issues of family planning and reproductive health in the sub-Saharan Africa, the country’s contraceptive prevalence rate was not perfect.
“The country’s Contraception Prevalence Rate remains at 33 percent and with the implementation of this Family Planning CIP 2016 -2020, we hope to work with our partners to increase it to 60 percent by the year 2020,” explained Magwira.
UNFPA, who are partnering with government and USAID in implementing the Family Planning CIP 2016 – 2020, have since pledged to give all the necessary support Malawi government would need in the implementation of the 5-year CIP.
The 5-year plan document was launched under the theme ‘Increased modern CPR for married and unmarried sexually active women aged 15 to 24 years from 33% to 60% by 2020’.
The CIP aims at serving as a roadmap for government, civil society, traditional authorizes, and development partners among them USAID and UNFPA for the next five years.
The planned activities under the launched plan include addressing barriers to family planning, long distances or inadequate access to services, and negative community attitudes related to family planning.
Full implementation of the CIP will avert 6 thousand maternal deaths, 47 thousand child deaths, and save MK25.5bn, according to USAID.
Development partners have since urged the ministry of health to be the chief advocate in implementing the plan, and that other government institutions should implement complementary policies that put women at the centre of Malawi’s development.
