ELLEN MLAMBO

MIRROR REPORTER

MASVINGO – Zimbabwe’s target is to reduce unmet need of family planning from the current 10% to 7% by the year 2026, Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC) CEO, Farai Machinga has said.Unmet need of family planning arise due to unavailability of the method of choice or trained health service provider at the nearest health facility and religious and cultural doctrines prohibiting users from utilising contraceptives.

Family planning needs are to ensure access to contraception, information on family planning services and available methods and services that help individuals and couples plan their families according to their desires. The needs that are not met in Zimbabwe include comprehensive information of family planning services, availability of all contraceptive methods at primary health care facilities and pressure or stigma related to the use of contraception due to cultural or religious beliefs.

Meeting family planning needs also contributes towards the reduction of maternal mortality and the reduction of STIs including HIV, said Machinga. Zimbabwe has not been able to meet those needs due to lack of trained service providers to offer all contraceptives method (especially LARCs). The problems caused by unmet needs include unintended or unplanned pregnancies, high teenage pregnancies leading also to high maternal deaths among the young people Speaking in an interview with The Mirror at the sidelines of a recent workshop in Masvingo, Machinga said the country’s unmet need of family planning is currently at 10% down from 13% in 2010. “We are committed as a country to ensure that we meet the Family Planning 2030 commitments. These are commitments to increase modern Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (mCPR) for all women from 50,2% in 2019 to 54% by 2026.

The commitments are to ensure availability of and access to quality integrated affordable contraceptives services for all by 2030 and access to comprehensive and age appropriate information and remove barriers to access and utilization of services by all adolescents and young people so as to reduce unintended pregnancies, gender based violence and STIs,” said Machinga. “The programs are intertwined in the sense that the moment one invests in family planning, it will be an investment towards reduction of new incidences of STIs including HIV.

“As a nation, we want to maintain the gains which we have realised towards the reduction of HIV prevalence. We are also to maintain the gains towards reduction of maternal mortality and also towards teenage pregnancy where we want to reduce it by half. Currently teenage pregnancies are at 22% and we are targeting 12% by 2026.One of the key agenda within the family planning and reproductive programs is to ensure that young people are equipped with the necessary information which empowers them to make informed decisions towards their health.