The Uganda Health Marketing Group (UHMG) director Emilly Katarikawe has called for “collective efforts to address the continuing unmet need of family planning”, which she says is compromising Uganda’s efforts towards development.
She says the country must work towards more sustainable family planning programs that target the youth.
She notes that if emphasis is put on spreading the gospel of family planning to the young, especially those between the age of 18 and 24, there maybe a change in the next 10 years as regards population size and wellbeing.
“At UHMG we have launched a family planning campaign for young people between 18 and 24 called Genext, which aims at helping young people to know the benefits of small families. I believe if the young generation knows all about small families we will get the fruits of small population, which means good life, health, poverty alleviation, and economic growth,” Katarikawe said.
She added, “We can’t do this alone but with the work of Ministry of Health, civil society organizations and religious leaders we can make it.”
Katarikawe said UHMG rolled out its Genext campaign last month and will soon move to secondary schools to address the adolescents. She observed that adolescence is a period of major physical and psychological change, as well as great changes in social interactions and relationships.
“Young people need factual and age-appropriate information about reproductive health and their changing bodies and feelings. They need to know that big families are not good, they need to know that their parents are failing to provide for them because of big families which they have to avoid,” she said
“All stake holders, health care providers, parents, and teachers, we have a responsibility to provide this much-needed information to youths. We can help them develop into healthy adults by talking with children early, and often, about their reproductive health and lives. As they grow, they need to understand the importance and value of delaying pregnancy by delaying sexual activity or if initiating, then using contraceptives.”
Katarikawe added that as much as family planning comes with many health benefits, there is a need to address demographic aspects as well as the human needs and rights, especially of those who want to use family planning but don’t have access to services.
“We still have a long way to go in addressing family planning. I therefore call upon all stakeholders to encourage the acceptance and use of family planning. Health workers need not to relax but to continue offering the services to each person they care for and their families.
“All of us deserve a good life, good roads, healthcare, three meals a day, the right to own land, clean water, security and more. Uganda is in a poor state now and the population explosion is causing all kinds of problems. You can’t have good health services and good feeding due to big families.”
She rubbished claims that family planning methods do not work, saying people must not have been using these methods properly.
“The methods work for me and world over. I don’t understand when someone says it did not work. Some people miss some level of information and don’t use the method well. Others get the information but do not use it properly, which is a personal responsibility,” Katarikawe said.
However she urged health workers to always make sure that the client makes the right choice about the type of family planning method to use and always asses the woman uses all the information available.
Grace Rugumbura, a health worker at Nyamabuga Health Center III in Kyejonjo district, notes that more sensitization is needed about family planning, especially in remote areas.
“The youth need more sensitization. We receive few youths who come for pills and injections but we need to reinforce our outreach to them they are the future and to a better future they need information on reproductive health,” Rugumbura said.
Due to lack of information some young people think family planning is for adults and have ignored the call for embracing it, which has led them to have unwanted pregnancies.
“I know family planning but it’s not of my age now, it is for adults who do not want to produce many children” said teenager Grace Kansiime from Mpanga SS.
Family planning allows individuals and couples to anticipate and attain their desired number of children and the spacing and timing of their births. It is achieved through use of contraceptive methods and the treatment of involuntary infertility. A woman’s ability to space and limit her pregnancies has a direct impact on her health and well-being as well as on the outcome of each pregnancy.
Wanted pregnancies are safer and healthier. Access to family planning prevents up to 1 in 3 maternal deaths and 1 in 11 child deaths, and is a critical strategy to reaching Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5.
According to recent estimates, more than 358,000 women die each year from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth – one every 90 seconds. Most of these deaths could have been prevented if women had access to affordable and timely quality medical services, and if they had been empowered to make decisions about their sexual and reproductive rights.
The benefits of family planning are plentiful and powerful. Simply put, family planning saves lives. Currently, more than 215 million girls and women, who want to avoid or delay pregnancy, don’t have access to family planning. Each year, 358,000 women die from pregnancy and childbirth-related complications. Universal access to family planning could reduce these deaths by up to one-third.
To help our people have small families we have to talk to young people, early and often, and provide them with factually correct information.
