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
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