Reproductive health is key to preventing unwanted pregnancies - Sai

From Linda Asante Agyei, a GNA Special Correspondent in Washington (Courtesy UNFPA, Ghana)

Washington, June 12, GNA - Women and adolescent girls need access to high reductive health services including family planning in order to prevent unwanted pregnancies, Professor Fred Torbgor Sai, a renowned Population, Reproductive and Nutrition expert has said.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Washington in US on Friday at the second World Conference on Women Deliver, he said, access to reproductive health would enable women to better plan the number and spacing of their children. Some 200 million women in developing countries including Ghana has an unmet need for effective and available family planning services and meeting this need would prevent 23 million unplanned or unwanted pregnancies per year.

Up to a quarter of maternal deaths and more than a million infants deaths would also be averted if family planning services are made available to these vulnerable women and adolescent girls. Prof. Sai said caring for the health of women and their babies was essential, yet family planning and maternal and newborn services fell short of needs.

He said providing contraceptives and integrating family planning into other health care services, creating adolescent-friendly services and developing innovative learning approaches and curricula to improve education and training in family planning and reproductive health, were some of the key approaches to ensuring better health services to women and adolescent girls.

The conference attended by over 3000 participants mainly health ministers, midwives, women and child health advocates, parliamentarians, first ladies and celebrities, was aimed at highlighting achievements in reducing maternal mortality, breakthroughs in reproductive technology, the role of women's health in development and remaining obstacles to improving maternal health around the world.

Prof. Sai said Ghana currently has an unmet need of about 53 per cent saying we need to address this "if we want to reduce the maternal deaths as well as the infant deaths". He noted that women were dying unnecessarily to pregnancy related causes that could have been prevented adding, " the signs are now known, cost involved are not beyond government and I think it is time for us to value the health of women".

Prof Sai explained that governments needed to put up strategies that work and gave these vulnerable women and adolescent girls a voice. He expressed concern about the free maternal health care given to pregnant women and yet these women have to pay for family planning services as well as contraceptives.

"If we are talking about free maternal health care then it should include family planning services as well as contraceptives since most of the women, who are dying, come from the villages and who are poor and do not have the money to pay for such services". He noted that providing modern family planning services improve women's health and enhances their status and rights at the same time. It also protects the health of infants and young children as well as improves the well being of families.

Because of these far reaching benefits, increased investment in family planning and maternal and newborn health services could accelerate progress towards achieving the MDGs, which were set in 2000 with targets for 2015. Prof. Sai noted that there was the need to set aside all religious conscience and provide family planning services to reduce unintended pregnancies as well as unplanned births especially among adolescent girls. He said that would improve educational and employment opportunities for women, which in turn contribute to improving the status of women, increasing family saving, reducing poverty and spurring economic growth. He called on government to set its priorities and to exhibit commitment as well as the political will to strengthen and to improve the health systems that would provide lifesaving care to women and their newborn in response to other urgent medical needs. "Many implementation challenges must be overcome as policymakers and programme planners to work to strengthen health systems and to make services accessible to everyone", Prof. Sai added. 12 June 10