Peace Without Poison

The drop in Rwanda’s total fertility rate from 8 to 6.5 children per woman between 1990 and1994 could be attributed to the Rwandan Civil War, which started in 1990, and to the ensuingRwandan genocide, which took place in 1994. The drop in fertility since then, however, canonly be attributed to intentional and deliberate methods of population control.Since the Rwandan genocide in 1994, the country has succeeded in bringing down its totalfertility rate from 6.5 to 4.5 children per woman. Some of this progress is due to better familyservices and access to contraceptives but most of it is due to sterilizing vaccines. Rwanda,however, is in too great a danger demographically and economically not to resort to any and allmeans possible.683 | P a g e