unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (10/02/89)
POPULATION: A NEW MEASURE OF DEVELOPMENT IS BORN
Posting Date: 09/30/89 Copyright UNITEX Communications, 1989
UNITEX Network, USA ISSN: 1043-7932
Of all the global issues in the developmental arena, the most
dramatic and rapid changes have been seen in the field of
population-related activities. Reviewing the two decades since
the birth of the U.N. Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA),
its executive director Dr. Nafis Sadik says population planning
has emerged as the "fastest-moving area in policy changes as
well as attitudes." Here on a visit which included attending the
inauguration yesterday of a large international conference on
population studies, Sadik told reporters today that until the
mid-1970s, population was not thought of as important for
development. However, as the international community looks
towards the future, she said, it finds that population has
become a key indicator of the success -- or failure -- of
planning for development. Later this year, 80 developing
countries, multilateral agencies and non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) will be meeting to formulate strategies for
the coming decade based on a study conducted by the UNFPA of the
past 20 years' experiences. The conference is expected to take
stock of population-related programs implemented by Asian
countries -- first in the field in the Third World -- as well as
later entrants from Africa and Latin America who have altered
their earlier opposition to family welfare services. According to
Sadik, significant changes are taking place in sub-Saharan
Africa, Central America, Argentina and Brazil, where population
planning used to be rejected on religious grounds. She says
China's success in checking its previously high birth rates --
achieved without external input -- has galvanized other Asian
countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea, where
population control has already achieved measurable success.
These countries have shown that fertility levels can be lowered
by organized intervention aimed not only at limiting family
size, but also at increasing women's access to education,
improving health services and reducing infant and maternal
mortality rates, says Sadik. Asked to identify some of the
important ingredients of a successful population control
program, she gave primary importance to a sustained political
commitment by the leadership of the developing nations to family
welfare policies and a matching allocation of resources and
personnel to implement them. She also observed that countries
where income and regional disparities are not high and which
have been able to mobilize NGO support for family welfare
programs stand a better chance than those hampered by size or
excessive state control. Despite the fact that most South Asian
countries pioneered population control programs, the Asian
sub-region -- with the exception of Sri Lanka -- remains a major
area of concern for population planners, says Sadik, herself a
native of Pakistan. According to UNICEF estimates, if all seven
South Asian countries had the same birth rate as Sri Lanka -- 1.5
percent -- they would have almost seven million fewer births
every year. However, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Nepal have
not yet managed to establish a downward curve in their birth
rates. Some of the reasons for this situation with particular
relation to India's problems were touched on by Indian Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi during his speech at the inaugural session
of the population conference that began here yesterday. Gandhi
said Indian family planning efforts aimed too much at chasing
bureaucratic targets which had been imposed uniformly across the
country, without any sensitivity to the needs of different
regions and ethnic and socio-economic groups. Advocating
area-specific projects, Gandhi said, "We need to divide the
country into different zones where the relevant parameters are
approximately homogenous and adapt policies and programs to the
specific characteristics of these different zones." Sadik sees a
possible thrust towards decentralization and people's
participation in South Asian population programs after her
recent meetings with Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and
Gandhi. However, Gandhi warned global planners against hoping
population control targets could be reached by merely boosting
funding for dedicated programs while curbing developmental
assistance as a whole or raising protectionist trade barriers
against developing countries. The UNFPA is spending $195 million
in 130 countries this year, and India is to get the lion's
share. Meanwhile Sadik is looking forward to a fund-pledging
donors' conference in November, when she hopes the United States
will reverse its three-year-old decision to cut off aid to
UNFPA. In 1985-86, under pressure from anti-abortion groups who
alleged coercive population control measures by the Chinese
government, the U.S. government terminated funding to the UNFPA.
Despite that setback, Sadik continues to hope the fund will
maintain its momentum for change into the 1990s, when the
emphasis of most of its programs is likely to be on recognizing
and providing the different welfare inputs different parts of
the world need.
* Origin: UNITEX --> Toward a United Species (1:107/501)
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