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Monday, July 17, 2017

Africa Gags on Trump's Republican "Global Gag Rule"

"Africa has to find a way to rein in its runaway population growth. The latest U.N. projection shows the continent’s population will double by 2050. Of the nine countries that will collectively account for half of the world’s population growth, five are in Africa—and they are some of the poorest: Nigeria, Congo, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Tanzania. It doesn’t have to be that way. If African girls got access to contraceptives and family-planning advice, the continent could reap a “demographic dividend,” as delayed pregnancy leads to better education and better health for women. That in turn will fuel economic growth for everyone. Get reproductive health care to the girls and save the future."

"Unfortunately, the Trump administration has just made that a lot harder. For decades, the U.S. had been the world’s largest funder of family planning. But when Trump took office, he halted all funding for the U.N. Population Fund and allocated no money for international family planning in his proposed budget. He also reintroduced the Reagan-era “global gag rule,” which bars U.S. funding of any international health-care provider that even mentions abortion. Already, family-planning programs across Africa and Asia have been forced to close for lack of funds—just as the largest generation of girls in human history is reaching adolescence. Limiting those girls’ options isn’t just bad for their countries, it also poses a security threat for rich countries, including the U.S. Rampant population growth in the poorest areas of Africa will only “aggravate the current migration crisis.”

"Ironically, the misguided Trump policy will end up causing more abortions.... But thanks to U.S. aid cuts, Nigerian clinics are running out of contraceptive implants. Over the next three years, some 10,000 women worldwide are expected to die of complications from unwanted pregnancies."

"Nigeria’s population is expected to nearly double in just over 30 years, to surpass that of the U.S.... will become the third-largest country in the world, after India and China. Given that Nigeria cannot even boast of 5 percent of the resources available to the U.S., how can they possibly feed and educate so many people... guarantee them access to clean water, in order to prevent massive outbreaks of disease? [Remember Ebola?!]  Boko Haram and other extremist groups already press children into militias. Even more “idle and illiterate” children will mean bigger, nastier armed factions—and a greater likelihood of conflict."
THE WEEK July 21, 2017

Trump's global gag rule implementation will devastate healthcare in poor countries:
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-global-gag-rule-20170522-story.html


My Comment: As climate change expands desertification around the world and especially in Africa, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse will be in the news more and more and on a greater and greater scale. Overpopulation is still the #1 cause of the world's ills / and I'm not just talking about poor people.