Peace Without Poison

The man responsible for kick starting Madagascar’s population control program was GabrielRamanantsoa, who served as President and Prime Minister from 1972 to 1975. However, thereis no evidence to suggest that covert, illegal and involuntary methods of birth control were usedduring his leadership.It was only after the military took over the country, once it assassinated President RichardRatsimandrava in February 1975, that covert and involuntary methods of population control wereadopted. After a few months of turmoil, the military placed in power one of their own, ViceAdmiral Didier Ratsiraka, who began implementing reforms recommended by the InternationalMonetary Fund and brought the total fertility rate from 7.3 down to 6.1 children per womanduring his first term in office (1975-1993) and then again from 6.1 to 5.3 children per womanduring his second term (1997-2002).Albert Zafy, who was President of Madagascar from 1993 to 1996, after Ratsiraka was deposeddue to public unrest, placed the sterilization program on pause.479 | P a g e