The latest atrocity from Afghanistan, with extremists murdering over 100 people as they desperately sought to get on the last flights out of Kabul and escape Taliban rule, weighs heavy on the heart. People’s desperation, given the Taliban’s previous regime of public executions, stonings, and abuse of women’s rights in particular, was understandable. Evidenced in the data: during 1996-2001 Afghanistan’s Total Fertility Rate (average number of children per woman) reached a 40-year high of 7.6. In the Taliban’s absence, it fell to just over 4. That dramatic downward curve reflects an increase in contraceptive use from less than 5% of all women under the Taliban to over 20% currently, as well as in the number of girls in school and women in government. It’s hard not to see all that as blown away by the bombers. But those statistics show how quickly new seeds can take root, for people to seize opportunities, and for the darkness to be dispelled. Yes, the lights are dimming in Afghanistan, but they’re burning brightly in Colombia, where PM’s latest Empower to Plan partner, Women for Conservation, is enabling rural women and girls to take control of their own fertility, choose how many children to have or not, and proactively protect their local environment, natural resources and wildlife. PM is researching similar partners in Afghanistan. For now, we can only support their efforts at a distance. Colombia’s example offers encouragement, having overcome decades of hostility to deliver benefits to people and planet. - Robin Maynard, Director, Population Matters |
