NRI: Policy needed to control population

A NATIONAL population policy must be developed to control Papua New Guinea’s family sizes, according to the National Research Institute (NRI).
Such a policy should also develop mechanisms to ensure basic services are available to every family in future, the NRI said.
NRI director Dr Thomas Webster suggested the idea to the three lead Government departments (Education, Health and Community Development) for serious consideration.
Dr Webster said with more control in the number of births, such legislation would help communities be better prepared, for example, have more schools with enough teachers, good health centres with enough health workers and police posts with enough law-enforcing officers.
Dr Webster was speaking at the yesterday’s celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the special edition release of the State of the Worlds Children report 
He said adults starting new families needed to take ownership of the family obligations of bringing up their children which must be in line with the resources that were available for their children to have access to.
“Let’s give our children appropriate tools and resources so that they can develop what they want to become effectively from these,” Dr Webster said.
He said small families would reduce social burdens of giving less attention to some children in the family which is a factor why young people rebelled against their parents and were easily led astray through peer pressure.
The attention through education, health and related social services must prepare children now for the future so that they would grow up to value life, others and themselves.