LOW FAMILY PLANNING ACCEPTANCE IN ASHANTI

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Dr. Joseph Oduro making a point
                    
The Ashanti Regional Health directorate is complaining of a low acceptance rate of Family Planning by the residents. 


The region's current family planning acceptance rate is 19 percent, far lower than the national average of 45 percent. 


The Deputy Ashanti Regional Director of Health in charge of Public Health, Dr. Joseph Oduro made this known at a day's sensitization seminar on the family planning for selected media practitioners in Kumasi. 



The seminar, which was organized by the College of Health of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology with funding by the JohnsHopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, aimed at empowering the media practitioners on the concept, methods and benefits of family planning to enable them to in turn, properly educate their audience. 


This would  help to deal with any myths or incorrect perceptions that are discouraging members of the public from accepting the practice to address some of the population issues that ultimately affect families and the general soceity.  


The low acceptance rate has been attributed to  number of factors including
misconceptions, inadequate public education, fear about perceived side effects
and poor data capturing about family planning activities at the various public
health facilities. 



he Deputy Ashanti Regional mentioned the Amansie West district as where the acceptance rate is relatively higher in the region. 



This, Dr. Oduro, attributed partly to the presence of the Millennium Villages
Project, an initiative of the United Nations that has been providing a number of
social interventions, including health care programmes to lift the residents out of
abject poverty. 



On his part, the Kumasi Metropolitan Director of Health, Dr. Akwasi Yeboah-
Awudzi disclosed that whereas a total of 19 thousand, 635 people accepted 
various family planning methods in 2013, only six thousand, 345 had accepted
family planning as at June this year. 


He was however hopeful that the figure could increase to about 13 thousand by
the end of this year. Dr. Yeboah-Awudzi mentioned the implant, injectable, oral pills and male condom as some of the most accepted family planning methods in the region. 


The two health officials were unanimous in their views that even thought the
data on condom use is suggest low use, it could still be the most preferred family
planning method since it is mainly purchased from chemical shops, pharmacies 
and other sources which do not take data on it. 


 In a presentation, a Senior Lecturer at the College of Health, Dr. Roderick
Larsen-Reindorf, noted that even though there contraceptive is perfect in view of
the minimal side effects, their benefits to the individual and family are far greater. 


He mentioned the prevention of unplanned pregnancies and the associated
complications, spacing in births among others as being the positve sides of 
family planning.

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