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BURKINA FASO: Population growth outstrips economic gains

21 Jan 2009 18:21:17 GMT
Source: IRIN

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OUAGADOUGOU, 21 January 2009 (IRIN) - Population growth coupled with a weakened economy in Burkina Faso have sparked calls for a new population control policy.

The country's population is growing at 3.1 percent a year, or more than 400,000 people, after factoring in deaths, which have declined over the past decade, according to 2006 government data.

Demographer Louis Marie Dakuyo with the government's National Commission on Population told IRIN the population balance has "tipped" and requires immediate action. "We have surpassed an acceptable population growth rate [based on births, deaths, and economic growth], which worsens development challenges."

Burkina Faso's population nearly tripled over 30 years to more than 14 million people as of 2006, according to the government.

Population growth is cancelling out benefits from the country's 2008 five-percent economic growth, said Dakuyo. "With our population level, we need robust double-digit growth to improve the lives of residents."

The head of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in Burkina Faso, André Maouya, told IRIN social services can no longer keep pace. "Any time we build a school, we have a mass of children who enrol. It is like trying to empty a river while water continues to flow."

The number of secondary school students nationwide has grown by 145 percent between 2000 and 2007, according to the government.

Maouya said with improved reproductive health services and a decrease in the infant mortality rate, parents could be persuaded to have fewer children.

But the country must act immediately, said Ministry of Health director Fatoumata Zampaligré. "These strategies yield results only 10 to 15 years later even if we act now."

Government data says some 12 percent of children die before age one. Health officials link effective family planning to reduced maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality.

Burkina Faso has one of West Africa's highest maternal mortality rates, 700 per 100,000 live births, according to 2005 and 2006 government data.

Population control

Little has been done to implement a national population control policy adopted in 1991, said UNFPA demographer Saïdou Kaboré. "Any new policy should point at the real problems. Not just say evasively 'we are going to control the rate' without saying how to do it."

Dakuyo with the government's population commission said Burkina Faso was not aggressive with enforcement because it was more focused on HIV and AIDS, as well as 1990s structural adjustment requirements. He added that population control is part of the national poverty-reduction strategy, which is being drafted.

Almost half of Burkina's population lives on less than 50 US cents a day, according to a 2003 government survey. "We know that poor populations tend to have more children," said UNFPA's director Maouya, "They lack information and means of family planning."

In 2003, the government reported that 29 percent of those who wanted to use contraception could not get it.

The UN estimates that at least 200 million women worldwide every year want to use safe family planning methods but are unable to do so because of lack of access to information, services and family or community support.

Religion

Religion could be another barrier. In the past two years, UNFPA has reached out to religious leaders in Burkina Faso to help fight myths about religion and population control.

"People tend to always look to God for creation," said El Hadj Salif Kafando, secretary general of the Burkina Faso Muslim Association. "But God does not say procreate more than one can feed."

Traditional chief Samandin Naba of Burkina Faso's largest ethnic group, the Mossa, suggested using threats and coercion to influence "those who continue to have eight or 10 children without regard for their well-being."

But health minister director Zampaligré ruled out force. "It is premature to talk about limiting births like in China."

bo/pt/np

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