Panellists discussing contraceptive use by teenagers in one of the side
events at the International Conference on Family Planning in Nusa Dua,
Indonesia on January 26, 2016. PHOTO | EUNICE KILONZO | NATION MEDIA
GROUP
Global health organisations have argued that sexually active
adolescents and youth should have access to contraceptives as their
“right”.
Representatives of the groups that included
Marie Stopes International, Population Service International (PSI) and
USAID argued that sexually active adolescents and youth aged between 10
and 24 should access contraceptives such as injectable family planning,
coils and implants.
They said the family planning
methods would not only prevent unwanted pregnancies until they finish
school and gain employment but will also "often decrease menstrual flow
and pain, can treat gynaecological conditions and reduction of anaemia".
Speaking
in one of the side events during the 4th International Conference on
Family Planning in Nusa Dua, Indonesia, one of the panellists, Prof
Chittaranjan Narahari Purandare from the International Federation of
Gynaecology and Obstetrics said "there is no medical reason to deny them
(teenagers) access to contraceptives.”
He argued that
countries have a responsibility to support, advocate and accelerate
access to quality products and services for all regardless of their
marital status.
INTERVENTIONS
Another
panellist Ms Beth Schlachter of the Family Planning 2020, a consortium
of family planning and reproductive health organisations, said it was
sad that countries are ignoring the right of young people to information
and ultimately on family planning.
“Young people are
entering the reproductive age but they are faced with numerous barriers
in accessing long acting reversible family planning methods, because it
is assumed that it will make them to want to have sex? That is not true.
Let them make their own decisions,” she said.
In the
statement also signed by Pathfinder International, UK-AID, International
Planned Parenthood Federation and the International Youth Alliance for
Family Planning, the organisations said policy makers, ministry
representatives, communities and families should have access to
information on the “safety, effectiveness, reversibility and
cost-effectiveness of contraceptives.”
During the
opening ceremony of the forum on Monday, Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation pledged an additional $120 million (Sh12.2 billion) over the
next three years to improve access to modern contraceptive methods for
120 million more women and girls across 69 countries, including Kenya,
by the year 2020.
The money will be used for family
planning advocacy, improving family planning services in the private
sector and expanding proven family planning interventions.
Culled from Daily Nation
Culled from Daily Nation
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