He will be recording his eighth in the next five months, giving him a small edge of three grandchildren ahead of his age mates, all under 45 years. Isabirye, a father of 13 children, including three sets of twins from four wives, has also re c orded four deaths of children dying under the age of three, mainly due to diseas e s like measles.
Asked whether he still wants more children, polygamous Isabirye replied, 'Yes. For as long as I am alive and sexually active, I will demand for children from my wives. Like my ancestors, I have to exploit the gift of procreation God gave m e to ensure our clan's linage keeps growing, lest we get extinct and other clans get to dominate us.'
'I am happy my two sons, aged 21 and 19 years, are emulating their ancestors a s well. They too have started getting children and have three between them so far,' said Isabirye, a traditionalists, who is aloof to family-planning knowledge.
Like himself, his five married children - three daughters and two sons - are als o primary six school drop outs. They all have children, with the eldest daughter, aged 24 years, having three children, aged six, four and three years.
Isabirye's three wives â" all under 25 years â" have suffered at least two s till-births each, but continue to compete for positions as wives in his home area, which is saturated with many cases of unregulated births.
Interestingly, Isabirye and his wives have little knowledge about family plannin g services, saying 'I do hear of child birth control services but I do not subs cribe to such science.'
'Some friends who used contraceptive pills ended up not enjoying the gift of m otherhood while others have suffered numerous complications.
With such examples, I am not seeking family planning knowledge, as it will disru pt my marriage,' Isabirye's third wife, Janat Kakaire, 20, chipped in during the interview, conducted in her three-room grass thatched house surrounded with o ther huts " homes to already married sons " in the homestead.
People like Isabirye would easily bring a smile on President Yoweri Museveni's face.
The Ugandan leader has been quoted arguing that rapid population growth, irrespective of the quality in terms of skills, is good for Africa, adding that a large population would form a larger market like is the case in China and the Asian tigers.
Isabirye represents numerous large families living under US$ 1 a day in rural Uganda, a country with a population growth rate of over three per cent (3.2%), occasioned by a fertility rate of six per cent, the third highest in the world.
This scenario replays itself across Africa and Asia due to reasons like lack of access to family planning services, or resistance by the populations, citing sexual taboos and the fear of losing fertility. Researchers attribute persistent ill health, maternal and infant mortality to the resultant situation.
John F. May, the Lead Population Specialist at the World Bank, revealed that over the past decades, rapid population and reproductive health outcomes have hindered poverty reduction efforts, especially among the poorest countries.
'Without programmes on population and reproductive health, we cannot improve the health of mothers and their children and the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 and 5 will not be met,' May said at the International Conference on Family Planning: Research and Best Practices at the Speke Resort, in Munyonyo, at the sh o res of Lake Victoria.
Rapid population growth has also adverse impact on the environment, including water supply, soil erosion and global climate change at large. It also has consequences for the human capital investments -- in education and health -- that are needed to provide new generations with necessary skills.
May admitted that World Bank's programmes in population and especially reproductive health, had not been as rapid everywhere as initially anticipated.
In particular, 49 least developed countries (LDCs), including many sub-Saharan Africa countries, and parts of the South Asia region, have not progressed very rapidly.
'The gap with more advanced countries has been widening. This situation must be addressed, especially in the Africa region,' May said, stressing 'As we have done in our work on HIV/AIDS, so we should do with family planning. We also d o need to work with our development partners who know so much in so many areas."
Dr. Werner Haug, Director Technical Division, United Nations Population Agency (UNFPA) warned: 'If MDGs are to be met, the international community must restore family planning to the top of the development agenda,' pointing out that 'th at will require both political and financial commitment.
Citing family planning as the best documented practice to reduce maternal mortality, Haug said the service had reduced unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions, translating in a 40 per cent reduction in maternal deaths.
Each year, modern contraceptives prevent 2.7 million needless infant deaths and loss of 60 million years of healthy life.
According to Wener, 'Family planning is also instrumental in preventing morbidities such as obstetric fistula and lowering transmission of HIV. Currently over 90 per cent of infants and young children with HIV are thought to have been infected by parents."
The conference is working towards piling pressure on policy makers in LDCs to give more priority to family planning program by committing more resources like it for HIV/AIDs programmes.
Munyonyo - 18/11/2009
Pana
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