Rwanda plans to control population growth

Officials in Rwanda within the coming months plan to unveil a campaign promoting contraception and family planning to control the country's population growth and stabilize its economy, the New York Times reports.

The country's population, which is made up of subsistence farmers, has quadrupled during the last 50 years.

Rwanda has about 8.8 million people, and Rwandan women have an average of 6.1 children.

If fertility rates are not slowed, the population will double by 2030, according to the Times.

Rwandan officials "were reluctant to promote population control" after the 1994 genocide that took place during the country's civil war because they "feared it would offend the survivors, who believed they had a right to replenish what they had lost," the Times reports.

President Paul Kagame in a recent interview said he soon will unveil a comprehensive population control program that aims to cut Rwanda's birth rate by at least 50%.

According to officials who are designing the plan, it would include a requirement that everyone who visits a hospital or health center for any reason be counseled on family planning.

Women of child-bearing age would be offered free contraception -- including Norplant II, a small silicone pin that is inserted beneath the skin and that is effective for up to five years -- and all schools would offer comprehensive sex education courses.

Catholic church leaders are not expected to oppose the plan, the Times reports.

According to the Times, the church has avoided politics because some priests, nuns and lay workers took part in the 1994 genocide, which weakened the church's "moral authority."

Officials designing the population control program say they would like their plan to become a model for other African countries.

They also say they have begun consulting specialists from the U.S. and other countries to fund the project in its entirety.

The U.S. government is currently helping to finance the program, the Times reports (Kinzer, New York Times, 2/11).