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Tanzanian President John Magufuli has urged women to "free their ovaries" and to have more children to help boost the economy into a regional power, said critics who would worsen the situation. inequality and poverty.
"When you have a large population, you build the economy.That's why the Chinese economy is so huge," Magufuli said Tuesday, citing India and Nigeria among some 39, other examples of countries taking advantage of the demographic dividend.
"I know that those who like to block the ovaries will complain about my words, free your ovaries, let them block theirs," he told an badembly in Chato, his hometown.
Since taking office in 2015, Magufuli has launched an industrialization campaign that has helped sustain economic growth, which has averaged six to seven percent annually in recent years.
He said that a higher birth rate would help accelerate progress.
Tanzania has experienced relatively strong growth, averaging six to seven percent per year, over the past decade. At the same time, the country of East Africa, which has 55 million inhabitants, already has one of the highest birth rates in the world – about five children per woman.
According to data from the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA shows that the Tanzanian population is growing at about 2.7 per cent per year, while most hospitals and public schools are overcrowded and many young people are undernourished. Have no job.
UNFPA said that about one third of married women in Tanzania were using contraceptives, but Magufuli criticized the family planning programs supported by the West implemented by the Ministry of Health.
Last year, Magufuli said that the reduction in the birth rate was "for people too lazy to take care of their children," and the Ministry of Health banned the broadcast of advertising on planning by a project funded by the United States.
While the poverty rate in Tanzania – people living on less than a dollar a day – has decreased by about 26% in 2016, the absolute number of poor citizens has not decreased because of the high population growth rate, according to the World Bank.
Opposition leaders in Tanzania criticized Magufuli's stance, saying the country's already rapid population growth was a ticking time bomb, and disapproving comments were made on social media.
"As a modern woman, I can not believe it … especially from her," said a Twitter user.
Others said that it was just bad for the economy that Magufuli is urging Tanzanians to have more babies.
"The high population growth in Tanzania means rising levels of poverty and income inequality," said a human rights activist based in Dar es Salaam, who asked not to be named in order to avoid possible repercussions of the ongoing review by the government of the registration of non-governmental organizations.
"Women's ovaries should never be used to seek economic prosperity."
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