"Two is enough," Egypt tells poor families as population booms

Record ID: 1397468

  • Title: "Two is enough," Egypt tells poor families as population booms
  • Date: 27th February 2019
  • Summary: FAYOUM, EGYPT (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF "TWO IS ENOUGH" CAMPAIGN REPRESENTATIVE PREPARING FOOD WITH GROUP OF WOMEN VARIOUS OF WOMAN PREPARING FOOD / CHILDREN PLAYING AROUND CHILDREN PLAYING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FAYOUM RESIDENT AND FATHER, HANY SAYED ADEL, SAYING: "There is a lot of awareness, and they (women) do not want to have a lot of children. But the methods of fa
  • Embargoed: 13th March 2019 07:40
  • Keywords: Egypt's Ministry of Social Solidarity Family planning campaign in Egypt Two Is Enough Egypt's population
  • Location: FAYOUM, EGYPT / UNKNOWN
  • City: FAYOUM, EGYPT / UNKNOWN
  • Country: Egypt
  • Topics: Living / Lifestyle,Society/Social Issues
  • Reuters ID: LVA002A3CYBTJ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:EDITORS NOTE: PART OVERLAID WITH NARRATION AND MUSIC
    As Egypt's population heads towards 100 million, the government is trying to change the minds of people want to have a lot of children.
    "Two Is Enough" is the government's first family-planning campaign aiming to challenge traditions of large families in rural Egypt.
    "The main challenge is that we're trying to change a way of thinking," said Randa Fares, coordinator of the campaign at the Social Solidarity Ministry. "To change a way of thinking is difficult."
    Egypt's population is growing by 2.6 million a year, a high rate for a country where water and jobs are scarce and schools and hospitals overcrowded. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi says the two biggest threats to Egypt are terrorism and population growth.
    "We are faced with scarcity in water resources ... scarcity in jobs, job creation, and we need to really control this population growth so that people can feel the benefits of development," Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali told Reuters.
    Decades ago, Egypt had a family-planning programme, supported by the United States. The fertility rate fell from 5.6 children per woman in 1976 to 3.0 in 2008 while the use of contraceptives went up from 18.8 percent to 60.3 percent. Large amounts of contraceptives were made available and advertisements increased demand for birth control.
    Support for family planning from the Egyptian government and large sums from donors helped make the programme successful, said Duff Gillespie, who directed USAID's population office from 1986 to 1993.
    But Egypt was relying on donor support and when that assistance went away, family planning was neglected. By 2014 the fertility rate had gone up to 3.5. The United States is supporting family planning in Egypt again, providing more than $19 million for a five-year project ending in 2022 and $4 million for a smaller private sector project ending in 2020.
    Those amounts are significantly lower than the $371 million the United States spent on family planning in Egypt between 1976 and 2008.
    "Two Is Enough" is mainly financed by Egyptian money, with the Social Solidarity Ministry spending 75 million Egyptian pounds ($4.27 million) and the U.N. providing 10 million pounds, according to the ministry.
    The two-year campaign targets more than 1.1 million poor families with up to three children. The Social Solidarity Ministry, with local NGOs, has trained volunteers to make home visits and encourage people to have fewer children.
    Mothers are invited to seminars with preachers who say that Islam allows family planning, and doctors who answer questions. Billboards and TV ads promote smaller families. The government aims to reduce the current fertility rate of 3.5 to 2.4 by 2030.
    Deeply rooted traditions and lack of education explain why many Egyptians have big families. Al-Azhar, Egypt's top Sunni Muslim authority, endorses family planning, but not all Egyptians agree.
    Some view children as a future source of support. Others who only have girls keep having more until they get a boy who can carry on the family name.
    About one in three Egyptian women stop using contraceptives within a year, often due to misinformation about the side effects or lack of information about alternatives, according to the United Nations Population Fund.
    Nearly 13 percent of married women of reproductive age in Egypt want to use contraceptives but are unable to, according to official data from 2014.
    Now the government has renovated clinics, added staff and provided more free contraceptives. Under "Two is Enough" the goal is to have 70 new clinics up and running in March.
    Since January, the government has limited cash assistance to poor families to two children instead of three in an attempt to push them to have fewer kids. Mahmoud will receive less cash every month. Her husband works only a few days a month, making 45 Egyptian pounds ($2.60) a day, she said.
    The government sees the population boom as a threat to its economic reform plans. Every year, 800,000 young Egyptians enter the labour market, where unemployment is officially 10 percent.
    In Egypt, population growth is around half the economic growth rate, but it should be no more than a third - otherwise it will be difficult to invest in social programmes and improve living standards, said Magued Osman, chief executive of Baseera, the Egyptian Center for Public Opinion Research.
    Analysts say Egypt should target people before they have children and sex education should be available in schools.
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