FIJI: Condoms and kava blamed for drop in birth rate
Updated
Condoms and kava are being blamed for a decline in Fiji's population growth, prompting calls for an urgent revision of the country's family planning policies. One provincial council is even considering restricting the use of condoms in a bid to boost the population.
Presenter: Barbara Heggen
Speakers: Sharon Bhagwan Rolls, Director of Femlink Pacific; Hassan Khan, Director of the Fiji Council of Social Services.
HEGGEN: Over the last few years schools in the Lomaiviti Province have reported a drop in the number of students, particularly in grades one and two.
The provincial council has attributed some of the blame to urban drift, but says the main reason is that couples are simply not conceiving. The council has pointed the finger at an increase in the use of condoms and the drinking of kava.
To combat the problem the council has placed a ban on drinking kava for two weeks every month for the next three years and it's also considering reducing the use of condoms.
Sharon Bhaggwan Rolls is the Director of Femlink Pacific and she says restricting condom use is dangerous and fails to consider the needs and rights of women.
ROLLS: A lot of the existing decision making for us, whether in the traditional system or at district level does not really reflect womens' realities and so a lot of these decisions, including this one about condom use is not really taking into account womens' realities and there's quite a patriarcal decision given that women undercede or have the right to have complete right over their own bodies and their sexual and reproductive health rights are at risk here.
When it comes to condom use, I think it's not going to be a quick fix situation, that by reducing the number of condoms used that the population will increase, but really it's for the leaders to work together with men and women in their communities to talk about population management.
HEGGEN: The Director of Fiji's Council of Social Services, Hassan Khan, says the solutions being proposed by the Lomaiviki Provincial Council, highlight the need for population policies to be revised. He says there's a possibility that Fiji's skill shortage could dramatically worsen if population issues aren't managed thoughtfully.
KHAN: There is a need for us to revisit the population policies of Fiji that were set perhaps 40 years ago or have they been revised, because Fiji Government mounted a very successful family planning program in which there was a condom and other contraceptives were being promoted to control the population. But now in the generations down the line, you have countries like Singapore and others where they have realised that their over enthusiasm of reducing the population has led to a situation now where there's shortage of labour, and they are now having to hire people from outside Singapore, mostly from Indonesia and Bangladesh for labour purposes.
HEGGEN: Sharon Bhagwan Rolls agrees that debates about population management are overdue, but says it's crucial that women are included in any discussions. She says the recent cases of infanticide in Fiji highlight the fact that political instability is having a dramatic impact on womens' lives.
ROLLS: The status of women in Fiji has been dramatically affected every single time that we've had a political crisis of some form or the other and we regress as far as the advancements made. Women are bearing the brunt of the economic downturn, and it's leading to severe depression. It's another form of violence that women are having to face. So we really have to as Fiji society really come together to address what's going on. I mean I think the case of infanticide that is being reported here and everywhere else, including in your country is just one example. There are many untold stories of how women are having to just bear the brunt as I said of the economic downturn.
