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More rural women take to family planning |
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Written by MOSES MUGALU
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Sunday, 04 October 2009 17:47 |
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More rural women have embraced family planning largely due to the availability of convenient contraception methods such as injections and implants. Ministry of Health officials and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), say that the change in attitude towards contraception will lead to more planned births and better life for mothers and their babies.
“Both methods (injections and implants) are convenient because of the time factor; you have three months to three years of not conceiving depending on your choice, but the process is short and assures privacy,” said Dr. Moses Muwonge, the Reproductive Health Commodity Security Coordinator in the Ministry of Health. He said that Depo provera is the most widely preferred family planning injection.
Injectaplan is the other injectable contraceptive available. Implants are tiny rods normally inserted under the skin of women’s arms. Unlike the injections, with implants a woman can take between three to five years without conceiving. Both implants and injectables are free in most reproductive health centres and clinics in the country.
News of increased use of contraceptives comes as a big boost for reproductive health workers ahead of the Safe Motherhood Day celebrations due on October 17 in Mayuge District. The theme is ‘Ensure healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies for safe motherhood.’ Agnes Barongo, the UNFPA Communications Officer, says injectables or implants have become popular among rural women because they “help them manage their suspicious husbands without any quarrel.”
Taking oral (family planning) pills or demanding condoms can cause fights among couples, especially in rural areas where most men detest them, Barongo explained.
“It becomes easy to manage such husbands when their wives go for injectables or implants. He won’t know and everything will go on normally in the marriage.”
As a result, Barongo said, more women in rural areas are now capable of controlling and spacing their pregnancies. During the ‘Safe Motherhood’ campaign week in the run-up to the October 17 celebrations, UNFPA and its partners will carry out several activities in the Eastern district of Mayuge to drum up more support for safe motherhood activities.
“Our target is to involve men in these activities so as to build capacity and offer services in these communities,” Barongo said. Barongo further said that experts have come up with ‘Village Health Teams’ to train people in rural communities about family planning and deliver reproductive healthcare services.
UNFPA is working with Marie Stopies
International-Uganda, Programme for Accessible Health Communication and Education (PACE), Reproductive Health Uganda, and the Ministry of Health, to implement the awareness campaigns.
The 2006 Demographic Health Survey, conducted by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, shows that 33% of women in the country used contraceptives as a family planning method.
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