Combating population explosion

Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque and Nasir Uddin :
According to the 5th population and Housing Census, 2011 the country’s population has reached 142.319 million with a density of 964 per sq. kilometer. ‘Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) carried out the census in the first quarter of the year to count the country’s current population, families and households; involving Tk 1.25 billion 71.255 million of the country’s population is male while 71.064 million are female.
The growth rate is 1.34 percent and the density is 964 per square kilometer. After updating the last nationwide census taken in 2001, BBS published a report which showed the numbers at 146.6 million. The Census 2001 report (provisional) was published in 2003 which showed the country’s population to be 130.3 million.’
Statistical figures thus indicate that population growth has been excessive. This is not a healthy sign. The fast growth rate is really alarming going against sustainable population growth level in the country. So population has been sharply increasing in geometrical proportion leading the country onto population explosion. All the same our increased food supply cannot ensure food security. It is far away.
The government has a plan to formulate a ‘realistic population policy’ realizing the weaknesses in the family planning intervention. Its new policy move is to ‘increase the contraceptives prevalence rate up to 80 per cent by 2021’ The government has earmarked ‘Tk.498 crore, development and non-development combined, for the procurement of birth control related materials and equipment’.
A realistic population policy is essential for combating population explosion. Thing is that our population policy in terms of family planning is unrealistic. Population boom in Bangladesh should be a matter of concern as it threatens resilient economic growth. Subdivision and fragmentation of holdings, unemployment in agrarian and other sectors of the economy and daunting poverty have now become outstanding policy issues. In Bangladesh, the issues like food security and natural disasters are magnified by the density of the population. “Any climate-induced disaster inevitably affects millions of people,” Researcher James Pender wrote in a recent sweeping report on Bangladesh that ‘by 2080, almost all the 51 million to 97 million people currently living in coastal zones may have to leave. The worst-off won’t even be able to do that.’
Public policy through resource mobilization and allocation cannot do much in determining which way things should move unless the government plans to combat overpopulation through a sustainable population policy. Only observing population day is not enough. Of course this day is a reminder to all the citizens thinking rationally at the level of awareness with the global policy community reaffirming its commitment to sustainable level of population growth. There can hardly be any argument with the fact that swelling population threatens to put at risk all implementation strategies of development in the substantive areas of public policy. Even a high budgetary allocation against any policy moves for a change can hardly be implemented in a country with a rising population.
The policy makers may look at demographic transition over time-bulge and decline of population on a comparative scale in all groups respective of age, sex, class, religion and sect, rural and urban. Time series data is available to surmise population growth at various levels. Nevertheless more important is to probe the fact that we are lagging behind the western countries so far as population control measures are concerned.
With advances in science and technologies come new challenges. In fact tangible progress of the nation requires institutional capacity to combat them. It has been increasingly incumbent upon the state to comply with fiscal demands of the increasing number of to-day’s young and their share in economic participation. The energetic youth can be use to deal with birth control measures if it can be prod into a productive force.
The theme of population day 2011 is ‘Calling Attention to Urgent Global Issues.’ Last year (2010) the theme was ‘Be Counted: Say What You Need’ The theme of 2009 was ‘Responding to the Economic Crisis: Investing in women is a Smart Choice’. “In time of economic hardship women in developing countries are likely to be disproportionately affected which in turn inversely impacts their children and communities. That’s why it is so important that people’s basic needs, including for reproductive health and family planning are being addressed even more urgently…” The situation of women now-a day presents the world with an opportunity to generate income and reduce poverty. Because of human development achievements of past decades many young daughters are going to schools and combating childhood diseases. But to succeed in competitive global economy they should be equipped with advance skills. Despite rising awareness about gender equality and birth control resulting in lower fertility rates in many developing countries family planning movement has yet to attain a remarkable success. It still remains to see how population control measures are being managed in patriarchal societies. There is a need to test the level of acceptability of birth control methods considering the variables like sex, class, tradition and modern.
Family planning in Bangladesh needs to be strengthened as a movement involving a large number of rural and urban women as activists. Fiscal demands for reproductive health for mother and child, education for the vulnerable and employment should be redeemed all within a broad brush social security net. What is urgently needed is persuasion through motivation. It’s high time to enhance social security of the disadvantaged group.
UNICEF has long viewed rightsizing family especially birth spacing as an essential part of maternal and child health service. Advocacy for child spacing is intended to bring about an improvement in the survival, well being and quality of life of the child, the mother and the family.
As part of its mandate for improving health of the babies and mother UNICEF has long been playing role for the reduction and for support of breastfeeding. UNICEF as such makes a distinct contribution towards family planning and population control. UNICEF policy advocacy continues to support well informed timing and spacing of birth and to address well documented disadvantages for both mother and child of birth that are ‘too close or too many’ to mother who are ‘too young or too old.’ UNICEF has gone too far with its advocacy program for healthy pregnancies protecting the rights of both mothers and babies. UNICEF endeavors to make it clear that healthy pregnancies can have a profound impact on mothers, children and society at large. “Expectant mother require adequate nutrition and good, accessible prenatal, delivery, obstetric and post natal care, as well as an environment free of pollutants, exhausting labor and extreme stress such as conflict” Investment on maternal nutrition, on protein, vitamin A and iron supplementation or fortification yields high returns. Eliminating malnutrition among expectant mother reduces disabilities among their infants by almost one-third UNICEF stresses early nutrition pregnant to help prevent malnutribution infants.
The state should encourage and reward those women who cannot offer child. The state may well provide all logistics and support including allowances and social insurance for health, education and old age to the parents blessed with only one baby. Confidence building measures to be institutionally dealt with is of course has a positive impact on the married couples willing to take contraceptives and birth control peels. The new health policy that is about to be on cards may incorporate a special section on family planning with the indices like reproductive and protective health services including safe birth, safe abortions and prenatal and antenatal services in clinics and maternities and proper nursing of the new born baby. There should have been a provision for the prevention of early marriage and premature pregnancy. I think with well thought measures of birth control in the proposed health policy voluntary family planning movement will be reinforced
Implementing any human development programme has become a daunting challenge due largely to bulge in population. Demographic transition over time paints an alarming picture of the state of population. The country’s population growth has been showing upward trends over a couple of decades now reaching the height of overpopulation with14.45 people (1.39 growth rate)..If there is no attempt to arrest the growth of population the total population will be doubled. With a seemingly overpopulation stage it has been difficult to meet nutritional demands of all citizens. Marginalization has become an acute problem with fast growing of the poor living far below the poverty line. Reproductive health sector is stated to be seriously impaired.
The dire consequence of rapid population growth is the depletion of natural resources. Colossal waste and extraction in the man-made humanitarian crisis like the resultant poverty impairs “regenerative capacity’ of natural resources. We now see devastation of resources caused by non-ecological human behaviour. Demographic imbalance, unplanned settlements and economic growth tends to harm natural order of things dismantling ecological settings.
The current development intervention does not incorporate any concern about maintaining demographic balance through a streamlined population policy and conserving environmental resources. When population base is extremely high it harms ‘per capita well being’ and per capita consumption. Fundamental condition for resilient economic growth is population growth at the desired level. It cannot be done only by allocation on reproductive health.
Public policy through resource mobilization and allocation cannot do much in determining which way things should move unless the government plans to combat overpopulation. Only observing population day on 11th July is not enough.
Of course this day is a reminder to all the citizens thinking rationally at the level of awareness with the global policy community reaffirming its commitment to sustainable level of population growth. There can hardly be any argument with the fact that swelling population threatens to put at risk all implementation strategies of development in the substantive areas of public policy. Even a high budgetary allocation against any policy moves for a change can hardly be implemented in a country with a rising population.
(Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque is a Professor of Public administration, Chittagong University and Nasir Uddin is Lecturer of Public Administration, Chittagong University.)