adminTanaka Mahanya
THE Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council executive director, Ben Chikati, says they are strengthening programmes that enhance male engagement in family planning.
He said they aim to expand outreach activities and accelerate efforts to increase awareness among the population.
“We want to improve and strengthen programmes that enhance male engagement and involvement in family planning programming and sexual and reproductive health and rights activities.
“The programmes are designed to ensure that men embrace family planning and SRHR for women and girls in view of the patriarchal nature of the Zimbabwean population where decision making power, especially on family planning programming, methods and decisions are made by men.
“We really have to ensure that our women and girls are empowered and given the necessary information to make informed choices.”
He said they have made significant progress towards achieving strategic goals of increasing modern contraceptive prevalence rate from 66 percent to 68 percent in 2022.
“In December 2022, we launched our strategy for 2022-2026, where the major focus in terms of vision will be to have zero unmet needs for family planning by 2026.
“Together, we have achieved remarkable results, including increased contraceptive prevalence rate, improved access to quality health services and contributing to decreased maternal and infant mortality rates.
“Significant strides have been made in improving access to affordable family planning services, counselling and educational programmes.
“However, there is still more work to be done to ensure that reproductive health services remain a top priority which impacts Zimbabwe’s health agenda.
“While we focus on family planning access and supporting women and girls, we also need to put in place collaborative programmes that also eliminate GBV in our society,” he said.
Bongani Ndlovu
Mathew Masinge