Mr Yutaka Nakamura, the Japanese Ambassador to Uganda has warned that the current high population growth will greatly hurt the country’s economy.
Nakamura noted that in order for the country to sustain an economic growth, it has to have some check on the population growth rate.
Speaking during the commissioning of a Shs25 billion water projects for the Acholi sub region at Teepwoyo village, Unyama Sub County in Gulu district on Friday, the Japanese envoy to Uganda explained that to achieve an economic growth, Uganda has to invest in some critical infrastructures in order to spur growth and development.
According to Nakamura, “The priority areas should be around income elevation especially in rural areas, improvement of living conditions through the provision of good health care system and clean safe water.”
He said that Japan has achieved growth because they are having fewer babies every year.
The Ambassador also noted that the water facilities in the seven districts of Acholi were to benefit 32, 000 families but it will now benefit 38,000 instead implying that 6,000 more beneficiaries will access the water facilities than it was initially planned.
In April last year, medical personnel in Gulu District accused local politicians of frustrating family planning methods.
The District Assistant Health Officer, who also doubles as the focal person, Maternal and Child Health, Ms Rose Okilangole, noted that having children that one can take care of benefits both parents and government in terms of proper planning.
“With the current resources, government may not be able to provide adequate health care for all its citizens, if the current trend of population growth continues,” she said.
Ms Okilangole added that family planning is a global issue and any politician who advocates for a large family, should put into consideration the health of mothers before opting for it. She said at the moment, the Ministry of Health recommends five children for each woman at child bearing age, beyond that, their lives might be at a risk.
But the Gulu Municipal Council, Mr Kelly Komakech said family planning at the moment will not apply to the region that is recovering from the long war.
“Many lives were lost in the two-decade war, and as people are resettling into homes to have fresh families, family planning comes in. In some homes, we have even seen marriages breaking up as a result of family planning,” He said.
The recent Poverty Status Report paints a mixed human development outlook.
On the one hand, the Uganda National Household Survey (UNHS 2012/13) estimates that poverty levels declined by 4.8 percentage points to 19.7% (6.7 million persons) from 24.5% reported in 2009/10 (7.5 million persons lived in absolute poverty).
On the other hand, there is stagnation or reversals in progress for other areas including universal primary education, and health, in particular HIV.
Development progress across regions also varies, with the North and Northeast lagging behind the rest of the country.
Although poverty has generally declined, rural areas continue to have the highest concentration of national poverty compared to urban areas.
Uganda’s total population stands at 34.9 million people, the provisional results of the National Population and Housing Census 2014 revealed.