By Chilungamo Missi

Blantyre, December 13, Mana: An Economist in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Alexander Mpando says the country's new National Population Policy is set to address population growth challenges as it is advocating for sustainable population growth.

He made the remarks on Tuesday during a meeting with Blantyre District Council and other stakeholders aimed at disseminating the new Population Policy which was nationally launched in July 2023.

Mpando said that the overall goal of the policy is to have a manageable population with access to adequate, high-quality, social services and economic opportunities that can meaningfully contribute to national development.

He said it is worrisome that the population was growing at an alarming rate which is putting pressure on resources such as land for farming hence a need for concerted efforts to raise awareness in communities on the negative impacts of over population.

"To achieve this, there are six priority areas that the Population Policy contains, the areas are; managing population growth, inclusion of vulnerable and marginalized groups, climate change adaptation and resilience, Information management, financing, capacity strengthening, linkages, and coordination," he said.

The economist said Population Policy is key to development as it focuses on harnessing the demographic dividend, and youth needs saying this takes a critical step towards achieving Malawi's 2063, adding that this require taking a whole of society and cross-sectoral approach to addressing population growth.

Finance and Administration Assistant for United Nations Population Fund, Mathews Gondwe urged local authorities to consider population growth as a crosscutting issue when undertaking development activities adding that communities should be fully sensitised about it to ensure they take the necessary actions to address it.

In his remarks, Blantyre District, Principal Planning Officer, Innocent Simakweli said the council will ensure to sensitise communities on the new Population Policy adding that the policy will be crucial in informing development activities.

This is the third National Population Policy as the first one was developed in 1990 and revised in 2012. The new policy was launched in July 2023 and has a five-year implementation plan.