“It is absolutely critical that at any point in time a family only has the number of children that it can afford to take care of and bring up into well-rounded citizens. And it is also critical that a family is able to space these children and have them at intervals that enable them to bring up each child effectively,” she said.
Out of sight, out of mind?
“It seems to have dropped off the radar in recent years. When HIV became uppermost and funding had to be got for HIV, It looks as if family planning lost priority,” said Dr. Fred Sai of Ghana, a former professor of medicine and past president of the International Planned Parenthood Foundation. He, too, is a member of the Global Leaders Council of Reproductive Health.
Sai said in Ghana early marriage is a common practice -- one that can put the health of young girls at risk.
“A girl gets married at about 14. I don’t say she should be. It would be best if we can give them education so they don’t get married at 14. But if they do, if they have no preventive, they start getting pregnant. This leads to a whole lot of health problems,” he said.
Without readily available family planning, Sai said a country’s social and health services can be overwhelmed.
“We want free education for our children. We want free health services for our children and people. And the more we try to build the competencies to deal with education, competencies to deal with health, facilities to deal with health, the more we have new entrants,” he said.
最新
2013-11-27
2013-11-27
2013-11-27
2013-11-27
2013-11-27
2013-11-27