Family planning methods not for only women - Dr Boye

Dr Bernard Okoe Boye, Member of Parliament (MP) for Ledzokuku Constituency, on Wednesday reminded men that ”family planning methods are not only there for women but also for men.”

In a statement on the floor of Parliament, to mark World Population Day, celebrated on July 11, he said family planning was an effective population control mechanism.

The MP, a Physician, called for an “inter-ministerial collaboration in ensuring that all females and males in Ghana of child-bearing age are educated and provided with tools of birth control.”

He spoke of the various methods and said “the message is that many options are available and hence the need to increase awareness and also scale up the provision of ante-natal and post-natal family planning” to ensure planned rather than accidental, natural unplanned and unavoidable occurrence births”.

He noted that “millions of women globally, and in Ghana, in particular, do not have access to family planning services,” adding that, family planning was a ”key factor in reducing poverty and facilitating economic emancipation of vulnerable individuals and developing nations”.

And “this is the very reason why the 2018 World Population day celebration focuses on family planning”.

World Population Day is set aside to raise awareness on global population issues, and 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of a conference that focused on family planning.

The day was chosen and approved by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989. In 1969, the International Conference on Human Rights was held, and for the first time ever, family planning was affirmed to be a human right.

The Tehran Declaration, adopted during the conference, states that it is a basic right of parents to be able to decide on the number and spacing of the children.

The MP said planned families ensured good health and that, children that were properly spaced stood a greater chance of receiving quality education

“Also, women who exercise the right of planning their family are a true demonstration of the demand of Sustainable Development Goal,” Dr. Boye added.