Family Planning Week celebration launched in Accra

Accra, Sept 28, GNA- Dr Victor Bampoe, Deputy Minister of Health has called on Ghanaians to embrace family planning as a way of controlling the rapid population growth with its accompanying impacts on national development.

    Rapid population growth has also been identified as having a negative impacts on overstretched health systems and other resources and amenities, Dr Bampoe, said at the launch of the 2015 Family Planning Week celebration on Monday in Accra.

   The National Family Planning Week is celebrated throughout the country every year in September to promote family planning as one of the most cost –effective interventions for improving maternal health and development.

   The launch marks the beginning of a weeklong celebration of family planning activities to increase awareness among the general public on family planning and its benefits to the individual, families, communities and the country as a whole.

   The theme for this year’s celebration is “Family Planning: Know your Options”. Other regional events and exhibitions of family planning products are expected to be held at lorry stations and communities throughout the country.

    Dr Bampoe used the occasion to launch the National Condom and Lubricant Strategy and the Ghana Family Planning Costed Implementation Plan. These documents are expected to improve and accelerate the family planning implementation in the country.

   He explained that the National Family Planning Week celebration is a nationwide campaign to promote the vision of a situation where every pregnancy is wanted.

 “Its mission is to improve awareness of contraception to enable every individual and couple to make informed decisions on sexual and reproductive health”.

     Dr Bampoe said the general misconception that contraceptives are only for married and older people is not true, reiterating that family planning is available for single and young people too.

 “Young or old, Family planning should be a simple and personal decision made by informed individual or couple regarding how often and when to have children.

  He said family planning has also been identified as a key factor in reducing high maternal mortality, and therefore there is the urgent need to ensure that family planning becomes an integral part of all development efforts in all sector of government and society.

    Dr Ebenezer Appiah Denkyira, Director General of Ghana Health Service (GHS) this year’s  celebrations is the fifth to be marked in Ghana and that government through Family planning week is reaching out to the people with messages that would help reduce the ever increasing growth rate.

  He urged community leaders as well as church leaders to organise family health education as a way of helping stem the tide of high population growth, adding, there are many socio-economic benefits that could be achieved when families are well planned.

      Representatives from the UNFPA and USAID, main partners of the family Planning week celebration in Ghana, said all expressed their commitment in ensuring that Ghana attain its family planning target to enable the country to achieve its demographic dividends.

  Professor Naa John S. Nabila, President of the National House of Chiefs and Member, Council of State, who chaired the event asked the authorities to make family planning facilities more available to all, including sexually active students.

GNA

Prices of Commodities at Agbogbloshie Market

Accra, Sept.25, GNA - A market survey conducted by the Ghana News Agency on Friday, September 25 indicates that the prices of foodstuffs at the Agbogboloshie market is relatively at same as other market places.

A bag of maize sells at GHS 130 whiles ‘Olonka’ sells at GHS 3.50p and GHS 4 respectively.

A bag of medium size foreign rice namely: Cindy Rice sells at GHS 23, Uncle Sam - GHS 29, Millicent - GHS 28, Delicious – GHS 28, My Dear – GHS 29 whiles the big bag sells at GHS 200 and ‘Olunka’ for GHS 13. With the local rice, (Grawa), it sells at GHS 2 a cup and GHS 200 for the big bag.

A tuber of yam (‘Puna’) sells at GHS 5 and 3 pieces for GHS10

A medium bucket of tomatoes sells at GHS 15 for 25 pieces.

An ‘Olunka’ of Palm –nut sells at GHS 4.50p whiles six pieces of Cassava sells at GHS 5.

A smoked dry fish sells at GHS 6, 7, 8, 10, depending on its size.

Six pieces of plantain sells at (ripped) GHS 6 whiles six pieces of unripe plantain sells at GHS10.

A medium size container of groundnut paste sells at GHS 6, small for GHS 4 and GHS 8 for a big container.

Seven pieces of cocoyam sells at GHS 5 whiles nine pieces sells at GHS 10.

Auntie Adjeley, a maize seller made known that the price of maize is not stable in the sense that during rainy season, the price of maize reduces whiles it increases during the dry season.

Auntie Offei, a plantain seller also said that the price of plantain is also not stable because such a commodity has it season. She quoted from the Bible, Ecclesiastes 3:1 which says ‘There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. She made known that the season for plantain is every 10months and within that period, the price is really cheap.

The market women however pleaded with the government to reduce duty on foodstuffs so as to make goods affordable. They again referred from the Holy Book Bible saying even though, God said there would be hard times on earth, Ghana needs a good leader to guide the nation.

GNA

Ghana Launches National Condom and Family Planning Strategies

   

    Accra, Sept 28, GNA-A National Condom and Lubricant Programming Strategy (NCLS), with the goal to improve access and use of quality condoms and lubricants in the country has been launched in Accra.

   Government through Ministry of Health (MOH) developed the National Condom and Lubricant Programming Strategy, a five year strategy, spanning between 2016-2020, together with Family Planning Costed Implementation Plan (CIP), all in an effort to ensure quality sexual and reproductive health for all Ghanaians.

    The low use of both Male and female condoms in Ghana, notwithstanding the dual purposes they serve in contraception and prevention of sexually transmitted infections has mainly been attributed to challenges with regard to the availability and accessibility of condoms as well as misconceptions surrounding its use.

    The use of the female condom is even lower with inadequate knowledge on where it could be assessed and how it is used.

    Dr Victor Bampoe, Deputy Minister of Health who launched the two strategies, which also coincided with the launch of this year’s Family Planning week celebrations in Accra, said the NCLS represents Ghana’s commitment to comprehensive condom programming.

    The UNFPA is funding the two strategy documents that are required to support the decrease of HIV and STIs, increase access to condoms and lubricants and foster a supportive social and political environment for HIV and FP programming prevention in Ghana.

  Dr Bampoe said the purpose of the NCLS is to ensuring that all sexually active populations could be motivated to choose and use condoms and lubricants when they need to and have access to good quality condoms.

    “It is expected that the implementation of this strategy as outlined in the HIV Costed Implementation Plan (HIV CIP) would lead to an increase in access to and use of condoms and lubricants in Ghana and ultimately contribute to the reduction of unplanned and unwanted pregnancies, the incidence of HIV and other STIs”.

  He expressed the hope that the information in the document would be as beneficial to everyone associated with planning, management and decision making associated with family planning and HIV/AIDS programming in Ghana.

    Dr Bampoe further explained that government in January this year, also initiated the development of the CIP which builds on the key achievements, best practices and lessons learned of various reproductive health and family planning strategies and plans implemented in Ghana.

    “The document is particularly significant because it is the last five – year plan that will get us through our final ‘sprint’ to  the FP2020 goals, and also because it constitutes a key component of our government’s improved momentum to address equity, and access to reproductive , maternal, new-born and child health services.”

The CIP focuses on six key strategic priorities namely, commodity security, demand Creation, service Delivery and Access, Policy and Enabling Environment, Financing, Stewardship, Management and Accountability.

    Dr. Patrick Aboagye of the National Population Council (NPC) the two strategies are expected to help increase contraceptive use from 22.2 per cent in 2014 to 29.7 per cent by 2020 and also to increase the modern CPR amongst unmarried sexually active women from 31.7 per cent in 2014 to 40 percent by 2020.

GNA