thoughts on population control

Just like the question of which came first, the chicken or the egg... I wonder if poverty contributes to increasing population or increasing population contributes to poverty?

The Philippines has one of the highest birth rates in the world (2.36% annually) as well as one of the highest incidence rates of poverty (34%) in Asia and the world. If the annual growth rate continues at 2.36 percent, then the Philippine population is expected to double in approximately 29 years. This means from 76.5 million in 2000, Philippine population will be 153 million! This year, we are nearing the 90 million threshold.

In the Philippines, population control is such a sensitive topic. The Department of Health (DOH), backed by the President is advocating the natural family planning method, deterring the use of artificial control methods as it will anger the Catholic Church. In fact, the government is vague on the issue of how to control the rising population.

According to the news, the DOH still has 111 million pesos worth of contraceptives stashed in its warehouse. My question is, WHY is it hidden / stashed when health centers, NGO clinics are in such dire need of the supply? WHY can’t the government advocate natural family planning along with artificial methods? It’s ok promoting natural method as long as education / information on this is available and accurate. But the fact remains, people are still in the dark as to what natural method really is and how it works.

I believe that an aggressive information-campaign drive and the active participation of the local government units and other sectors concerned down to the barangay level is the key to addressing population control. Now poverty is another matter.