Madagascar: Women tackle population growth

Daniel Soadava and Samoela Razafindram bohoare known as “the mean women” in Antalaha, a small town on the east coast of Madagascar. “Men complain that we are always saying bad things about them,” they laugh.

After forming an association with other women, called Femmes Interessee au Development de Antalaha (FIDA), Soadava, a dentist and Razafindrambohoa teacher, soon learned that women in their region were desperately in need of more information about reproductive health and better access to contraceptives.

“Women in the villages are often forbidden to use contraceptives,” said Soadava. “Men want the women to have their children, [but] once the children are born the husbands don’t want to take care of them.”

Madagascar is one of 12 developing countries receiving support to improve access to contraceptives through the UN Population Fund’s (UNFPA) Global Programme to Enhance Reproductive Health Commodity Security, and has been described as a success story. According to UNFPA, the percentage of women using contraceptives rose by 11 percent between 2004 and 2009 to reach 29 percent.

Despite this increase, birth control is still not always available, even in urban areas, and one in four births occurs less than 24 months after the preceding one. This means Madagascar is facing rapid population growth. By 2050 the population is expected to more than double, from 19.5 million to 42.3 million, according to the World Bank.

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Source: IRIN