IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO PLAN FOR THE FUTURE OF YOUR FAMILY

In the early days, our fore-fathers gave birth, to many children to ensure that a good number of them survived hazardous childhood because then in fact mortality was astronomically high. But today, the situation is not as bad, though mortality in fact is still high in poor countries of the world due to the present deterioration in the quality of life. Disease like whooping cough, polio, tetanus, diphtheria, tuberculosis, and measles combined with malnutrition has claimed the lives of many children. The above listed diseases have also handicapped many. There are numerous cases of blindness, deafness and mental retardation. Measles has been said to have the highest potency in many African countries because most homes are usually overcrowded.

           

 The extreme poverty of these countries, monumental tragedy, rising unemployment and inflation can be blamed for this woe. The dangerously high rate of population growth in these countries is unaccompanied by complementary levels of economic expansion. It is very common in this part of the world to see peasants with many children and wives. I felt titillated when most enlightened women I spoke with on this topic expressed the desire to have only three or four children. They will contribute immeasurably in improving the living standards of their families.

            The world’s population is concentrated in Africa and Asia, two continents that are industrially backward in the world. Many demographers have been making some population projection for Africa and the figures have been staggering. Though, nobody can say for sure the exact number of Africans. The world food situation has been recognized as an immediate and complex problem. A recent food survey, conducted by the United Nations found out that a large percentage of the world’s people suffer from hunger, malnutrition or both –majority of them live in the third world or developing countries. And these are the areas characterized by rapid population growth and low income and resultant low purchasing power. Already about half of the African independent nations are the threat of famine. The food situation in Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, and Senegal can best be described as a profound human tragedy.

    The increased supply of food, particularly foods of high nutritional quality is required to improve the quality of life for many of our undernourished people. One of the greatest problems of poor countries is that many of them raise too many children without adequate income and plans on how to cater for them. This is why most people clamor for everything to be free. Even though they actually know that with the population and the present economic situation such free services are impossible.

            Babies are now being abandoned at alarming rate. This has proved that families should cut their coat according to their size. The melancholic ambiance and the world over do not encourage very large families. Fathers now go into tantrums whenever their wives mention that the food allowance is finished. This has caused bedlam scene of disorder because the man is finding it very difficult to maintain the large family he has raised.

            These countries have to be exposed to the benefits of family planning so as to make them accept it. In fact, the program should be intensified. China has already taken positive steps to check over-population. Abortion has been legalized and contraceptive pills are given free to women who need them. Other nations should not wait till the population poses a greater danger like in China and India, before they act. The action taken now is going to determine the quality of life of the next generation.