Rapid growth of urban populations has been blamed on failure of African governments to scale up their investment in family planning interventions for the poor.
This comes amid concerns that more than 20 million women in African cities lack access to critical reproductive health services, contributing to rapid population growth.
“Rapid urban population growth in Africa is primarily due to more births than deaths in cities, and not rural to urban migration as many think,” a forum in the ongoing ninth Africities Summit in Kisumu was told.
The plenary, presided over by the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population, indicated that mounting urbanisation presents challenges for planning and providing physical infrastructure and social services.
While millions of urban women want to space, stop or delay child bearing using any method of contraception, they are unable to do so, said representatives from 54 countries.
“Hard infrastructure like roads, housing, water and sanitation are important and needed in Africa’s cities. However, with the growth rate of our cities, no amount of investments will be enough,” said Prof Alex Ezeh, founding executive director of the African Population and Health Research Center.
With city populations tending to be younger than in rural areas, Prof Ezeh emphasised that failure to invest in family planning has had a huge bearing for intermediary cities such as Kisumu.
Intermediary cities are the ones away from the capital. In Kenya, they are Mombasa, Kisumu and Nakuru, which was recently elevated to city status. According to the findings, three in 10 women in Kenya face an unmet need for contraceptives in informal settlements.
Barriers to access to contraceptives range from cultural and societal pressure on women, poverty and discrimination, especially for those considered young or unmarried. Research also showed that one in 10 in Zimbabwe, to four in 10 in Angola and one-third of women in low-income settlements of Kampala are facing difficulties accessing contraceptives.
