Family planning education dwindling - NPC

The National Population Council (NPC) has said the investment in family planning education and advocacy programmes had dwindled drastically in the country in recent times.

The Council, therefore, called for concerted efforts by all stakeholders to give it the necessary prominence.

Mr Frank Ofosu-Asante, the Western Regional Manager of the NPC, told the Ghana News Agency in Sekondi that the low patronage of contraceptives among teenage girls and women in the country is a recipe for increasing population.

He, therefore, called for co-ordinated family planning information and services since it would benefit the citizenry and mitigate the high rate of unplanned pregnancies, unsafe abortions, as well as eradicate poverty and ease the pressure on the few social infrastructures.

Mr Ofosu-Asante said the NPC had formulated policies, programmes, recommendations and publications in line with its mandate to manage population growth in the country.

He said although there were conflicting views concerning the use of contraceptives for birth control due to fears, myths, misinformation and religious beliefs, women had the right to make decision concerning their use.

Mr Ofosu-Asante osbserved that contraceptive have become a priority not only because of the health and economic benefits but as a result of changes in demographic trends, high unmet need for family planning and declining donor assistance.

According to NPC projections, the country’s population is projected to reach 45.8 million by 2040 should the current growth rate of 2.5 remain unchanged.

He, therefore, expressed the need to scale up the sensitisation and use of contraceptives in order to avoid population escalation and its associated social and economic repercussions.

“In Ghana, the supply of contraceptives is mostly donor funded, however, the funding is gradually becoming unpredictable and could suffer in the near future therefore signaling concerns that family planning will be adversely affected due to insufficient funding,” he said.

Mr Ofosu-Asante suggested the need for the Government to allocate funds towards family planning education and list contraceptives on essential drugs and create a special account for the campaign so that corporate bodies could support it.

The National Population Council is strategically placed at the Presidency to advice Government on population-related issues so that the country’s population growth does not assume certain dimensions.