The use of family planning (FP) methods is not only a preserve for married couples but for adolescents as well, Head of Family Health Division, Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye has stated.
According to him “the notion that family planning is simply another way of controlling individuals and a couple with regards to child birth or to prevent pregnancy is not entirely true.
“The young people need it most and we need to encourage them to use contraceptives. We need to persist in our efforts to dispel all myths and misconceptions about family planning to make it desirable to all,” he stated.
Dr Kuma-Aboagye was speaking at the launch of the 2019 Family Planning Week in Accra yesterday which coincided with the World Contraception Day.
Under the theme; “Family Planning; Know the Options, Make your Choice”, the celebration is to promote the vision of the country where every pregnancy is planned and wanted to improve awareness and the uptake of contraceptives to allow for all individuals to make informed decisions on their sexual and reproductive health.
The launch begun with series of activities including street floats, community durbars, health education, counselling and free service delivery among others to drum home the need for safe sex.
Giving present statistics on FP coverage in the country, the director indicated that more than four women and girls are using a modern method of contraception with 99 per cent of men and women having knowledge of at least one method of family planning.
“The 2017 Maternal Health Survey reports that the use of modern contraceptive methods among married women is 25 per cent, a three per cent increase from the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey of 22 per cent,” he noted.
In spite of the progress, Dr Kuma-Aboagye admitted the need for increased commitment and support from all stakeholders to improve access to and uptake of FP services to achieve the 2020 commitment to increase the number of women using contraceptives to 1.93 million.
A key intervention in realising the 2020 goal was sustainable financing for FP programmes and Dr Kuma-Aboagye lauded government for taking steps to amend the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) law to include clinical FP methods.
He also mentioned the allocation of a health and commodities budget line for FP but “we still need to up our game in advocacy and accountability for resources, quality and rights.”
“Confronting the challenges ahead will no doubt require the continued concerted efforts of government, the private sector, non-governmental organisations, multilateral and bilateral development partners, opinion leaders and the media.”
The Country Director of the United Nations Population Fund, Niyi Ojualope lauded Ghana for taking the lead in the sub-region when it comes to modern contraceptive use.
He however urged that much stronger commitment be shown moving forward to achieve the 2020 FP commitment.
“We need to give the youth more information on the use of contraceptives, we must increase public education on FP methods and the media must help in disseminating the information to the public,” he advised.
Ms Anne Coolen, Country Director of Marie Stopes Ghana observed the need to protect adolescents from unwanted pregnancies calling for all hands on deck to safeguard the country’s future.
BY ABIGAIL ANNOH and KIMBERLEY FREMPONG
