President urges women to ditch contraception

President John Magufuli has urged Tanzanian women to give up contraception, insisting his country needs more people. ‘I see no reason to control births in Tanzania,’ Magufuli said, adding that he has seen the ‘harmful effect’ of birth control in Europe and elsewhere. A report on the EWN site notes that Tanzania has a population of around 60m, up from 10m at independence in 1961. The UN predicts Africa's population will double to about 2.5bn by 2050, leading to warnings of a demographic time bomb if economic growth and job creation cannot keep up.