Article about Philippine population

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1.9% population growth rate eyed by 2010

BAGO CITY, Philippines -- The government is targeting a 1.9 percent annual population growth rate by 2010, according to Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral.

"A census conducted in 2000 showed the Philippine population growth rate was 2.36 percent, and in a census this year we are estimating that it will show that it has gone down to 2.0 percent per year," Cabral said on Sunday.

To accomplish the 1.9 percent growth rate target, the government has been conducting multi-pronged activities, according to Cabral.

National government agencies will give capacity training and building for natural family planning methods, while local governments will provide other means of contraception to manage the population, she said.

Cabral said lower population growth was important for the country's development.

"Our moves towards development and improvement of quality of life of the people will be hampered if our population growth rate continues at a very high rate," she said.

Dr. Nafis Sadik, UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS for Asia and the Pacific, also echoed Cabral's views.

"All countries now accept that population is at the heart of development, and that achieving gender equality and universal reproductive health is vital to the reduction of poverty and the promotion of human well-being," Sadik said.

She urged the Philippines to develop a strong and culturally responsive population policy that "supports the right of all women and men to make free, responsible and informed choices."

Sadik said population growth rate in the Philippines remains high compared to all the East Asian countries.

Meanwhile, Sadik said there were 40 million people with HIV-AIDS in the world but it was still at a low prevalence level in Asia and the Pacific.

She stressed the need for programs for seafarers and sex workers -- among the high-risk groups in the Philippine society -- to reduce the threat of HIV-AIDS.

Sadik also cited the importance of providing reproductive health education for adolescents.While some people opposed this move, she said, young people learned about sex from the internet and their peers.

Cabral and Sadik came to Bago City for the 20th death anniversary of Rafael Salas, former executive director of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities.