Report on population and development, media told.

By Eric G Ndubi

The media has been asked to prioritize population and development stories in their coverage of news to promote awareness.

Speaking at a media sensitization forum on population and development matters at the Nairobi Comfort Hotel the assistant director National Council for Population and Development (NCPD) Jane Wanjuria said information about family planning, maternal healthcare services and dependency should be incorporated in programs, features and news reporting as the media plays its role of public education.

She stressed that the high rate of population growth in the country is highly undesirable for a developing economy and continues to increase dependency ratio.

“Forty three percent of our population is made up of people below the age of fifteen who are fully dependent on their parents. These parents often are not able to fully provide for their basic needs, leave alone saving for investment,” the director said.

The council that was established in 2004 under the then ministry of devolution and planning, is now under the ministry of state for planning, national development and vision 2030.

After the 2009 national census the council developed the sessional paper No. 3 on population policy for national development to address the issue of rapid population growth, majorly through control of unplanned births.

“With a population composition like this, it means that at any one time there are so many people entering the reproductive age. This group accounts for the highest percentage of unplanned births.” She said.

Mrs. Wanjuria challenged journalists not only to center their reporting on individuals in politics but rather dwell on issues that touch on development and population, which politicians address at surface value.

“When politicians talk about tyranny of numbers, you should engage them on the quality of these numbers, their health, can they feed themselves? Do they contribute to the economy? Let them ensure quality accompany these numbers.” She said.

She noted that there was need for programs that sensitize the public on the need for male involvement in family planning saying that the man is an essential part of ensuring manageable number of children in the family.

She observed that the majority of themes about family planning depicted women as to bear the sole responsibility with no deliberate effort to bring to the fore or championing contraceptive methods that are available for men, save for the condom.

“Family planning is dependent on men, since ours is a patriarchal society. The media should try to dispel the misconception that it is only a woman’s work.” She added.

The media was also encouraged to give more coverage on maternal healthcare where the council showed a mismatch between pregnant women who attended antenatal care and those who delivered in hospitals. Up to almost half of those who attended antenatal care did not deliver in hospital, for instance the 2008/9 year 92% attended antenatal care but only 43% delivered in hospitals. This has resulted in high maternal deaths with young mothers being highly susceptible.

The council seeks to improve life expectancy as a way of discouraging couples from having too many children and at the same time stating that their policy is non-coercive but rather seeks to make information available to the public.

“We want to give people the ability to make those hard choices, when all facts are on the table.” The Director said.