THE Kadjebi District Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in the Volta Region has launched a family planning promotional campaign at Asato with a call on parents to have children by choice and not by chance.
The Kadjebi District Director of Health Services, Ms Joan Eleeza, who made the call, said family planning was one of the most powerful ways of ensuring the good health of the mother and child and also to reduce the incidence of maternal and infant mortality.
“It has been observed that over the years, many people are shying away from family planning services and are continuing to have unplanned children with inadequate provision to cater for them,” he added.
The GHS in collaboration with Quality Health Partners, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), launched the campaign.
Ms Eleeza advised women not to have children at close intervals since it had been proven in many countries that birth spacing could prevent one in every five infant deaths and the reduction in maternal mortality would be substantial as well.
She said her outfit had adopted a strategy to ensure that majority of parents had the knowledge and the means to plan their families.
Ms Eleeza said the opportunities to decide on the number of children one should have was a basic human right and that the objective of family planning was the enrichment of human life and not its restriction.
She, therefore, said it was the responsibility of both men and women to plan their families from untoward hardships in life.
Talking about the trend of performance in the district over the past three years, Ms Eleeza said in 2006, it achieved 18 per cent and 16 per cent in 2007 while in 2008, it achieved 26 per cent.
Ms Eleeza appealed to the traditional rulers, religious and opinion leaders to support the programme.
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