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Dar urges African states to address population issues
2007-12-11 10:07:17
By Novatus Makunga, PST, Arusha
Tanzania has called on African countries to address the issue of population dynamics in order for the continent to achieve its noble objective of improving the well-being and quality of life of its people.
Opening the fifth African Population Conference here yesterday, Zanzibar President Amani Abeid Karume said Africa was faced with numerous challenges in the area of population and development.
It is estimated that half of Africans live in extreme poverty and one third live with hunger.
Karume said diseases, inadequate investment in human capital, gender inequality and youth marginalisation, as well as political instability, were some of the factors that underpin poverty in Africa.
``We are faced with the fact that, as the urban poor population grows the health and social consequences of poverty will spill over to the rest of the continent and beyond,`` he said.
Karume said estimates suggest that more than half of the continent`s population will live in urban areas by 2030, which poses serious problems in security, economic growth and inter-state relations.
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