adminRunesu Gwidi Herald Correspondent
A shortage of resources is hampering efforts to extend modern family planning methods in resettlement areas in the Masvingo Province, an official has said.
Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC)’s provincial manager for Masvingo Mr Peter Vhoko said studies have shown that the majority of women in resettlement areas lacked access to modern family planning methods.
He said 15,2 percent of women in the province had no access to family planning services.
ZNFPC has been finding it difficult to reach out to communities in remote parts of Mwenezi and Chiredzi where thousands of women want to be introduced to modern family planning methods.
“The areas (Mwenezi and Chiredzi), are very remote and have poor road networks, making it very difficult to access those in need of modern family planning services in these areas.
“The resources outlay required to cover these areas is very huge and this causes such areas to be left out when modern family planning services are introduced. We have discovered that as a result of lack of access to modern family planning methods, most women in these areas end up resorting to traditional methods, which have heath implications and are not effective,” said Mr Vhoko.
Mr Vhoko urged women in rural areas to be wary of employing traditional methods of family planning as their effectiveness in reproductive health was yet to be scientifically proven.
“Shortage of resources is a major challenge and militates against efforts to carry out awareness campaigns on the importance of embracing modern family planning methods in remote rural and resettlement areas,” he said.
According to statistics availed by ZNFPC, Masvingo Province recorded only 77 213 women new users of modern family planning methods and 597 453 repeat users in 2017. This translates to a total of 674 666 of women who use modern family planning out of an estimate population of over 1,3 million people in the province. Modern family planning methods include orals (contraceptive tablets), implants and child spacing injections among others.
Matabeleland South has the highest number of women (16 percent) without access to modern family planning methods in Zimbabwe, followed by Masvingo Province (15,2 percent).
Online Reporter