AFIDEP, partners laud efforts by government on population but say more could be done

The Malawi government need to integrate population, environment, health and development for the country to attain sustainable development goals, experts at the African Institute for Development Policy, AFIDEP and its partners, the Lead Southern and Eastern Africa have said.

In a statement issued to mark the World Population Week in the country, Prof Nyovani Madise, AFIDEP’s Head of the Malawi office said Malawi has made some progress in demographic and socio-economic indicators but much more needs to be done.

“While the country has scored big on reducing the fertility rates, from 5.7 in 2010 to 4.2 in 2018 and raising life expectancy at birth increasing from 48 in 2008 to 62 in 2018 (males) and 51 in 2008 to 68 in 2018 (female); the country is yet to begin benefitting from the demographic dividend,” she said.

During the Population week, the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP) has held a number of activities in collaboration with partners. These have included the launching of the population week and training of experts in population, health, environment and development (PHED).

Prof Madise said while the government may record successes on matters of population in the short term, its long-term objectives are however hampered by other sectors and if the current trends continue, the situation will impact the country`s ability to achieve its development objectives.

Commenting on the new population policy, she stated that the country would need to harness the gender dividend during population policy implementation. “Through mindset change, effective governance enhanced private sector dynamism combined with environmental sustainability, which AFIDEP has been advocating for since its inception in 2013, the country can achieve the demographic dividend,” she said.

She emphasized on the continued use of evidence in policy formulation, and AFIDEP would continue to complement the Governments efforts and provide capacity through technical training on issues of population growth management and the environment.

Chimwemwe Kaunda, an Economist at the Economic Planning and Development Department, Ministry of Finance presented on the National Population Policy that focuses on having a manageable population that has access to adequate, high quality social services and economic opportunities that can meaningfully contribute to the national development.

Malawi`s population has quadrupled from 4 million in 1966 to 17.5 million in 2018 (NSO, 2019). In 2018, there were 6.2 million adolescents and young people aged 10-24 years, representing nearly 34% of the total population. With such a youthful age structure, Malawi’s population will continue to grow if efforts are not made to slow the pace of growth.

Speaking on behalf of the Parliament, the Chairperson of the Population and Sustainable Development Caucus, Hon Ephraim Abel Kayembe, emphasized that the population policy is a living document requiring proper investments in human resources for effective delivery. He thanked AFIDEP for helping the launch of the caucus last year saying it helped the legislature advance the need for concerted efforts in the management of population growth to achieve the demographic dividend in Malawi.

Such efforts include the introduction of youth friendly health services, school re-admission initiatives and review of minimum age of marriage at 18 years. Other initiatives includethe National Economic Empowerment Fund, Introduced Free Primary Education; and Introduced the Affordable Inputs Programme.

The government has also given provision of high quality sexual and reproductive health services including family planning information.

Although significant progress in modern contraceptive use for married women increased from 7% in 1992 to 65% in 2021, the country’s indicators related to sexual and reproductive health still lag.

These undermine the development of quality human capital by limiting the resources that individuals, families, and governments can spend on general livelihoods including housing, agriculture, education, and health care. It also limits savings and capital accumulation, which are key for development.

Rapid population growth is also a key cause of environmental degradation and depletion of natural resources in the country, and hence undermines the capacity of communities and the country at large in developing resilience and adaptation to the effects of climate change.

Clive Mutunga, the USAID-funded BUILD Project Director agreed with Prof Madise’s sentiments and applauded the policy’s recognition of cross sectoral links and including climate change adaptation and resilience as one of its strategic policy priorities. added that sectors cognisant to demographic dividend such as education, health, employment and governance seem to have little understanding of the interconnection, “let alone the design of processes and tools for integrating, population issues into their policies, plans”, he said adding that as much as the country desires the wellbeing of its citizens, nothing much can be achieved as long as the system thinking has not been bought by the policy makers.

According to Mutunga, taking advantage of emerging opportunities including the demographic dividend demands that the government need to focus on strategic cross sectoral investments in order to accelerate the country’s achievement of interconnected development goals and ensure health, well-being and prosperity of Malawians