Tanzania’s female president Samia Suluhu Hasan has called on her compatriots to apply birth control and head off a population explosion which is taking over the East African nation, APA can report on Monday.
Her predecessor, the late John Pembe Magufuli who died last year had campaigned vigorously against the use of contraceptives by Tanzanian women.
However in a radical departure from this President Suluhu Hassan said it was concerning to her government that Tanzania is witnessing a population explosion and this would leave development struggling to keep pace with this trend.
She was visiting a hospital in Geita Region in the west of the country where close to 1000 births were registered for a month.
Bearing in mind the resultant pressure on the government to cope with the need to cater for new additions to Tanzania’s 60 million people in schools and health facilities she said: “How many classes will be needed after three years? What of health centres – how many will be needed to serve all these children?”
She also asked how many tonnes of food will be required to feed them and admonished Tanzanian women to limit their speed of producing babies.
President Suluhu Hasan’s position is a far cry from her predecessor’s stance on the issue.
Magufuli dismissed those who attempt to control births as foolish and selfish.
Although Tanzania’s birth rate has declined since 1990, the fertility rate according to the World Bank stood at 4.8 births for every woman two years ago.
Early marriages in a Muslim-dominated country and lack of contraceptives in most communities are blamed for the high birth rate.
WN/as/APA