By Linda Naa Deide Aryeetey
Accra, June 7.GNA – Ghana on Friday launched a new commitment to Family Planning (FP) called FP 2030.
FP 2030 seeks to ensure that all persons of reproductive age in Ghana have equitable and timely access to quality family planning information, commodities, and services by 2030.
Dr Kofi Issah, Director, Family Health Division of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), who launched the commitment in Accra, said the FP 2030 was preceded by broad consultations from youth development partners and stakeholders across the country.
He said FP 2030 would see to the implementation of five FP commitments from now to 2030.
The first commitment would ensure a full participation of the roll-out plan of FP under the National Health Insurance Benefits by 2030 while the second would advocate an increase in government financial commitment to the procurement of FP commodities.
The third commitment also calls for an increase in modern contraceptive prevalence rate (mCPR) among married women or women in union, while the fourth would ensure a reduction in unmet need for contraception among sexually active adolescents from 57 per cent to 30 per cent by 2030.
Dr Issah said the fifth commitment would ensure the implementation of family planning behaviour change promotion through correct, consistent, and targeted social and behaviour change communications that focused on rights-based family planning.
He said Family Planning was not necessarily about reducing the size of families, but ensuring equitable and manageable family size to reap the health and socio-economic benefits for the family, community, and the country.
Dr Issah said FP was also central to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals 2030, adding that all facilities under the NHIS were expected to provide free family planning services to the public.
Family planning refers to the use of modern contraceptives or natural techniques to limit or space pregnancies.
Modern methods of family planning include the pill, female and male sterilisation, IUD, injectables, implants, male and female condoms, diaphragm, and emergency contraception.
Traditional methods of FP include periodic abstinence, withdrawal, and folk methods.
According to the GHS Reproductive Health Policy, FP includes information, education, birth spacing, childbearing on the number of children a couple would want to have.
It also includes the provision of affordable contraceptive services to persons who need them and childbearing assistance.
GNA