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Launching over, next is to action the policy

IT was indeed a key milestone when we launch our 10 year National Population Policy 2017-2026 in Honiara yesterday.

The policy aims to address sustainable and inclusive social and economic development; respect for human rights of all people; essential social and community services are accessible by all community members; and maintaining the social and economic security of the Solomon Islands.

The policy is for all people equally and inclusively and as such it will ensure it targets national development planning in the Solomon Islands.

Thanks to the Ministry of National Development Planning and Aid Coordination with technical support from United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) the policy is now ready to be implemented.

In the words of Solomon Islands UNFPA Programme Specialist Pauline McNeal the “National Population Policy places great priority on overcoming inequalities and exclusions – building fairer, freer and more caring communities that include everyone, regardless of differences. But this cannot depend on individuals and families alone.”

She said success in the implementation stage of the policy depend entirely on the commitment of the government backed by sufficient resources to support the poorest and most vulnerable in our rural areas.

The aim of the National Population Policy is to provide good quality of life across the spectrum, beginning at birth itself, for all.

The policy considers the critical role men play in contraception especially when the use of contraception is low and total fertility at 4.7 children per woman.

Planners and aid donors have done their parts in formulating this policy; considering the importance of population on the inclusive social and economic development of Solomon Islands.

The success of such policy depends entirely on its implementation or action on the ground. If men are still ignorant about contraception, then we will still expect high fertility rate of children per woman.

It takes two to tango, so men must also take part of the blame for impregnating their wives and partners. Woman always bears the burden of carrying the baby in her womb for nine months and takes care of the child from birth to toddler or even through his or her entire life.

Men always regard child bearing and raring as a woman’s job as per their patriarchal culture. This is where the problem arises – blaming culture as the template for our actions which to some extent violates the basic human rights of all people, especially women. We are not saying our ‘culture’ in general is bad, but its practise is somewhat interpreted differently to victimise women on the outset.

It is time we implement this policy and men takes responsibility of their actions and be role models as supporters and promoters of modern contraception for the health of their wives and a positive contribution to lowering the fertility rate of children per woman.

The National Population Policy must therefore not be stored away on shelves and office cabinets to gather dust, but practically applied, followed and actioned on the ground as of 2017 and onwards.

It’s time to move from theory to practical, so to speak!