A proposal submitted by a member of parliament from Buthidaung on initiating special birth control measures in Buthidaung and Maung Taw, was rejected by the lower house of parliament on 22 September. The MP, U Aung Thaung Shwe asked to designate the two predominantly Muslim towns in Northern Rakhine State as special area to introduce stricter birth control measures. The Minister of Health and Sports, Dr Myint Htwe, said during the parliamentary debate on the motion that his ministry could not work as advised in the MP’s proposal, unless the President Office and the cabinet instructed it to do so. An estimated population statistic of the two towns issued by the Ministry of Health shows that the annual birth rate of Rakhine Buddhists in the area was only 0.6 per cent while the Muslims have the rate of 3.5 per cent. Monthly six children are born in Rakhine families and 85 in Muslim families. The Birth Spacing Healthcare law was adopted by the Union Parliament in 2015, which as the 28th law the parliament adopted for last year. U Aung Thung Shwe told Irrawaddy news that although the two towns were eligible to be placed under special birth control measure under the law, but the government has so far failed to take action. The total population of Maung Taw is more than 520 000 out of which the numbers of citizens are 49 000 and the rest are categorized as others while in Buthidaung the total population is more than 340 000 which include 55 000 citizens and the rest are in the others category. Reference: http://burma.irrawaddy.com/news/2016/09/23/123713.html