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Planning is something we do all the time.
We plan when to plough the lands, plant seeds, build a house, go to work, and what to sell and buy, what to cook, to eat or what to wear, all because we want a better life.
Planning a family is just as important — to achieve a better life. One of the most important interventions to reduce maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality is to practice family planning, to prevent unwanted pregnancies, and to encourage spacing between child births. In this regard, the contraceptive prevalence rate in Zimbabwe has increased from 59%, to 65.6%now being one of the highest in Sub Saharan Africa.
The unmet need for contraception was reduced from 13%, to 10% in 2015. Teenage pregnancy is at 22% and need to be reduced to 12% by 2020.
Zimbabwe, by 2020 is targeting to increase contraceptive prevalence rate to 68% and reduce the unmet need to 6.5% in line with its FP 2020 London FP Global Summit Commitments, at which government affirmed its recognition of the right to Quality Reproductive Health Services for women and girls.
(ZDHS 2015)
Definition of Family Planning
A responsible decision made by an individual or couple to plan:
to have a small/manageable family size
when to have the first and when to have the last child
to space each pregnancy by at least three years
Family Planning: It`s Your Choice
Daniel Maromo is the Provincial Marketing & Communications Officer for Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council – Manicaland and can be contacted on 0773 551 868/020 62981/23 or emailed at [email protected]
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