SUDAN. Statement Adopted by the Joint Session of the Revolutionary Command Council and the Council of Ministers, Decree No. 1410 of 16 September 1990.

A. The Dimensions of the Problem

Sudan faces a three dimensional population problem. These are -

1. Economic growth is not in tandem with population growth.

2. Mal-distribution of population,

3. Low population characteristics.

B. Principles

The National Population policy is based on the following principles: -

1. Recognition of citizens right on free mobility.

2. Recognition of the right of families to acquire information to methods to help them take the right decision with respect to maternal and child health and to determine freely the number of their children.

3. Avoidance of the use of abortion or sterilization as means of family planning.

4. Adoption of the positive incentives based on the promotion of the individual and the community awareness without resorting to coercive methods.

5. To help the individual to become a source of productivity.

6. Consideration of the local resources as the basis for programme implementation.

7. Encouragement of voluntary efforts and community participation to solve community problems.

8. Adherence to religious control principles.

C. Objectives

1. To invigorate the economic growth rate to combat the fast population growth.

2. Improvement of population characteristics.

3. Achievement of a better population distribution.

D. Means of Accomplishment of Objectives

1. To design a clear strategy for population redistribution in Sudan targeted at a relative balance between population in high density areas and other parts of the country.

2. Development of rural areas through integrated rural development programmes and developing the Sudanese villages to curb the rural urban flow of population.

3. To design a human resources plan to be correlated with the education and training policies to meet the real demand for different categories of manpower in the internal and external labour markets.

4. To strive for the eradication of illiteracy and achieve complete enrollment of children at school age to reduce school drop-out rate with special emphasis on women education.

5. Promotion of the status of women and encouragement of their participation in public life.

6. Integration of population education at all educational levels.

7. Strengthen[ing] the role of religious institutions in awareness raising.

8. Preparation of an information face-to-face communication plan aiming at changing values and customs in reproductive behavior.

9. Promotion of more effective primary health care services to reduce maternal, infant and child mortality.

10. Extending and promoting the standards of family planning services, based on religious norms, with special emphasis in rural areas.

E. Planning and institutional structure for population policy implementation

1. Strengthen[ing] structures that can follow-up, assist in evaluation and replanning. This is accomplished through strengthening the National Population Committee, the regional population committees and establishing population planning units at key ministries.

2. The preparation of an annual report on the population situation by the NPC to be discussed by Council of Ministers annually. This will help decision making based on scientific recommendation.

3. Strengthening Statistics Department as well as regional statistics offices.

4. Participation of the private sector in maintaining services in urban areas so that the public sector will be directed towards the rural areas.