STAKEHOLDERS MEETING ON REPOSITIONING FAMILY PLANNING

25-06-2010 Narration: The Upper East Regional Population Officer, Alosiba Azam has described as worrying, the continuous decline on the use of contraceptive among Ghanaians, particularly married couples. The situation, he indicated could result to population explosion if concrete measures are not taken to reverse the trend. He attributed the unfortunate decline to poverty, illiteracy, socio-cultural practices and superstition among others. Mr. Azam, however called on the government to reverse the decline in funding by increasing the allocation of internal sources. He expressed this concern at a Regional Co-ordinating meeting on Repositioning Family Planning held at Bolgatanga. Correspondent Isaac Asare has filed this report for Radio Ghana.

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Report

The meeting attended by representatives of reproductive health NGOs and officials from the regional Health Directorate was in response to the five year document launched by Ministry of Health during the World Population day marked on July, 11 2008. The document entitled ‘A Roadmap for repositioning family planning in Ghana was to ensure that family planning becomes the fulcrum for strengthening and advancing reproductive health care and rights. The strategies and activities enshrined in the document were also meant to help reposition family planning as a national policy for the wellbeing of the society particularly women. It was subsequently disseminated in the Upper East Region in 2009 by the office of the Regional Population Council with the view to addressing the negative impact of population growth and how it can be tackled through the adoption of family planning practices. This year’s meeting was to collate report on family planning activities carried out by partners and stakeholders working in the area of reproductive health and family planning, challenges and the way forward. Mr. Azam bemoaned the low level of contraceptive use in the country, particularly, married couples in the three regions of the north. He mentioned the Upper East Region as the second lowest level of contraceptive use, recording 15 percent with northern region recording the lowest of 6 percent. This, he noted, calls for a holistic approach by relevant stakeholders in reversing the trend. He said the continuous decline in the use of contraceptives poses a major challenge to international donor agencies that provides funding for family planning activities and called on the government to assist in that direction. Some of the participants in their presentation of report emphasized the urgent need to encourage male participation and involvement in repositioning family planning through initiatives such as the formation of men clubs, considering the traditional role of men in determining reproductive and family size issues. They also called for intensive public education with married women being the target audience. A representative of PRIDE-Ghana, Mr. Richard Adongo, called for the involvement of district and municipal assemblies as major stakeholders to promote and finance family planning activities and programmes to ensure its sustainability. A public health nurse at the Regional Health Directorate, Madam Veronica Navro, advised pregnant women to always bring along their sexual partners for counseling. This, she explained, would help give better understanding of contraceptive use among married couples.