By Yaw A. Kankam, GIJ Intern
Accra - Ghanaians have been warned that even though the rates of AIDS are not as high as those of Botswana and of Eastern African countries, reports from the Ministry of Health show that the rate of AIDS infection is frightening.
This was revealed by Mr. Moses Mukasa, the UNFPA Representative, at the launching of State of World Population Report. He said Ghanaians need not be complacent about the disease in anyway since it poses a serious threat to the development of this nation.
Dr. Mariama Awumbila in a review of the report said this year's State of the World Population Report, titled "6 Billion: A Time for Choice," highlights the critical decisions facing the international community as world population presses the 6 billion mark, with the population growth projected to continue in less developed regions well into the 21st Century.
She said this year's State of the World Population, review experience in the first four years of implementation of the 20 year International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) programme of action including the major conclusions of the international review undertaken in 1999.
Continuing Dr. Awumbila said, despite severe resource constraints the review shows that a broader approach to development centred on human rights and human needs can create integrated programmes for sexual and reproductive health, advance the empowerment of women and mobilise new partnerships among governments and civil society.
She further said that whether population growth continues to slow down and whether it is accompanied by increasing well-being or increasing hardship and stress will depend on the decisions and actions taken in the next decade especially in the developing world.
Mrs. Esther Yaa Apewokin, the Director, Policy Research and Training of National Population Council, gave an overview of the Population Programme of Ghana. She said, one major population problem facing the country is the high population growth rate noting that the total population has increased from 6.7 million in 1960 to 12.3 million in 1984 growing at a rate of 2.4 per cent in 1960, 2.6 in 1970 and 1984. Currently, the population growth rate is estimated to be around 3.1 per cent per annum with the current rate of growth and the doubling time of the population is 23 years.
On the issue of gender equity and empowerment of women she said, specific activities have been initiated to address power sharing, decision making, poverty alleviation, education of the girl-child, mechanisms for the advancement of women, violence against women, human rights and advocacy. Affirmative action plan has been submitted to government which calls for 40 per cent representation of women on all statutory boards and by the year 2000. It calls also for the creation of a women's desks in all government ministries and institutions of these desks, she said, have become operational presently.
On law reforms, she said the legal environment to advance the course of women has improved significantly since Cairo, leading to the promulgation of various legal instruments to protect women's rights. She cited laws against harmful practices against women such as female genital mutilation (FGM), the "Trokosi" system which have already been passed.
In her remarks the chairman of the occasion Mrs. Alberta Quartey, member of the National Population Council, said, since Cairo there has been a paradigm shift from concentration on members to overall improvement in the quality of life of the world's population.
"Simply put, population is no longer merely about counting people. Even more importantly, it is about making people count in the development process".
She said in this sense, she finds the theme chosen for this year's celebration of World Population Day in July most appropriate: "6 billion people: quality: not members".
