AFIDEP urges government to increase funding for the health, education sectors

MALAWI: Nyovani Madise, Head of AFIDEP Malawi and Director of Development Policy, said that, while the population in this country is rapidly increasing, the significant push for voluntary family planning use is not as strong as it should be.

She made the remarks during a training workshop for members of parliament organized by AFIDEP and UNFPA on the Integration of Population in Development Planning and Budget Analysis.

Madise stated that they would like to see more funding for the health budget, specifically for family planning commodities, as well as funding for education sectors, particularly for young girls and boys, because education is also a very good intervention that helps to promote a slowing of population growth.

She went on to say that the annual rate is about 2.9 percent, which means that the population doubles every 23 years or so.

"We are nearly 20 million now, so if we don't change our scenario, we can be continuing to double every 23 years and that will not be the right decision because our land is actually fixed," she said.

In her official opening remarks, Second Deputy Speaker Aishah Adams stated that this training is critical because members of parliament will have enough time to go through all of the documents and see what they can change for the benefit of all Malawians.

"The only tool that brings development to the people is the budget. So it is very important training for the honourable members of parliament to go through the budget, understand it and see what they can change for the benefit of all Malawians,” she explained.

Gladys Ganda, a legislator from Nsanje Lalanje who attended the training, stated that the training is critical because it will help them understand more about budget analysis and population growth in this country.

"As members of parliament, we need to focus on the population itself so that whenever we are planning, we keep in mind that we need enough resources to implement all of the other projects that we have included in Malawi 2063," Ganda said.