from the Daily Monitor of Uganda. Rapid population growth worries government Jane Nafula & Joseph Miti KAMPALA

OFFICIALS from the Ministry of Health and the Population Secretariat have called for revitalisation of family planning services to check the rapid population growth rate in the country. The officials said Uganda's population growth rate is worrying. The head of Information and Communication at the Population Secretariat, Mr Hannington Burunde, said Uganda's high population growth rate remains a major challenge to government's efforts to reduce poverty and provide adequate social services like health, education, water and sanitation, housing, food among others. He was speaking at a health reporter's workshop at the Ministry of Health headquarters in Kampala yesterday. The objective of the workshop was to update journalists on reproductive health situation in Uganda, orient them with issues affecting people's health as well as identify how the media can contribute towards addressing population challenges. Mr Burunde said Uganda's population is growing at a high rate of 3.2 per cent. The current population of Uganda stands at 28.4 million people. Mr Burunde said the population is projected to shoot up to 39.3 million in the year 2015 and 54.9 million in 2025 due to high fertility rate. Uganda's fertility rate is 6.7, meaning that each woman is capable of producing at least six to seven children in her lifetime. Mr Burunde cites low education levels among households, polygamy, cultural preference for boys, early marriages, looking at children as a source of cheap labour as some of the drivers of high fertility rate in Uganda.