The second view solves population growth by pushing for economic development . As we went over in class, when people have economic goals in mind they seldom think about having children simply because of the costs. The average person in Africa would probably rather pay for a contraceptive as opposed to paying for a child’s life if they had more consumer goods to purchase instead. In many western industrialized nations, people may choose not to have children because of the costs involved.
The third view relies on the notion that population growth is the problem and birth control is the solution. This imposes upon the women of the region a sense of guilt for the responsibility of controlling their pregnancy. First off, women can’t create children on their own. Secondly, why shouldn’t the responsibility fall equally upon men since they are the necessary 2nd half in the process of conception. Advocates for this plan sometimes go to the extreme by pushing for mandatory contraception in order to control the population. Though forced birth control would be considered a barbaric extreme to most, it would be a quick solution to a growing problem. It would however, infringe on the civil liberties and basic human rights of women and or couples.
The only reasonable approach to this problem is sex education and access to contraceptives. The religious sector of many African nations refuses to allow their congregations to use birth control stating that it is against their holy laws. I believe that under the current situation, we must throw religious ideology out the window as it impedes Africans progress towards a controlled population status. Strict Roman Catholics in this country who would normally reject birth control are supportive because not using birth control now carries with it a stigma in this society because of our education on the subject. It is within this education that will impose the same anti-birth control stigma in Africa.
The problem of overpopulation in Africa leads to the next problem of urbanization. People migrating to large cities in search of opportunities isn’t a problem in industrialized nations because there is a demand for jobs by businesses. But when there are no jobs the problem takes root. False hope continues to draw many young Africans from their rural homes to urban areas. Overpopulation in cities has caused the exhaustion of government resources and social programs. The overpopulation of workers in these cities has led to a drop in wages as more workers are willing to do the same work for less pay in order to be competitive in the job market.
One solution to this problem is to discourage the migration to the cities. This can be done by eliminating the need to move for opportunity by creating opportunity in the rural areas. By paying farmers more and providing specialized agricultural training to aspiring farmers will cause the need to migrate to fall. Tearing down shanty-towns and squatter villages in urban areas has been used by many African governments but only leads to homelessness which in turn forces the squatters to rebuild in the same or similar locations around the cities.
Both the problems of overpopulation and urbanization have led to the third problem of AIDS. Migrations to urban areas have caused many young males to leave their homes. As unemployed females struggle to create income, many turn to the oldest profession in history, prostitution. Unregulated prostitution is riddles with various diseases but the most destructive of these is AIDS. Upon returning to their homes, males often infect their wives and leads to both parent’s infection with AIDS. Both parents will eventually die as a result of the infection coupled with below standard healthcare causing a rise in AIDS orphans. Many have used the excuse that males are genetically predisposed to being promiscuous and wanting multiple sexual partners. This argument is invalid because males all over the world exhibit self the self-control that separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom.
The refusal to discuss AIDS on a national level has fueled the fires of infection rates among uneducated Africans. This denial is only magnified by some politician’s refusal to believe in the disease or ease in blaming the disease on western conspiracy theories. Once again the only solution to this problem is education. Education creates a sense of fear in western industrialized nations. This fear outweighs the desire for sex most of the time. And with Africans current epidemic status, the fear should be even more effective.
Overall, the best solutions to these problems will be education. Only through an educated population can a long-term solution be found. The lack of education in many of these cases will continue to be the main factor in the prevalence of these terrible conditions Africa faces.
