Civil Society, Government discuss issues hindering the success of family planning

By Elias Hakizimana.

Various representatives of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Rwanda and the ministry of Health through Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) have discussed on the issues that are still affecting the progress of effective family planning.

On top of the challenges mentioned include laws that are still limiting young people to access contraceptives without consenting with their parents, mindset and stereotypes on family planning methods, culture and church beliefs as well as high cost of drugs to end users.

The discussions were held on Thursday, September 30, 2021 in Kigali along with the celebration of World Contraception Day themed: “Plan the birth for a better life .”

World Contraception Day currently takes place on 26 September aiming to improve awareness of all contraceptive methods available and to enable young people to make informed choices on their sexual and reproductive health.

Speaking amid the event, Dr Felix Sayinzoga, the Division Manager of Maternal health at Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC) said that discussions to remove barriers of laws has started between the Ministry of Health and law makers and more interventions to increase infrastructures are under progress.

“We are looking on how to increase training to healthcare providers and increase health facilities that give family planning services so that all people manage to access these services near them and on low cost.” Sayinzoga said.

Aimable Mwananawe, National Coordinator of Ihorere Munyarwanda Organization (IMRO) that organized the event said that there is a need to revisit laws so that adolescents get free access to contraceptives without asking their parents for permission.

“It has been realized that adolescents aged between 15, 16 and 17 years old are sexually active. Most of them face early pregnancies as a result of lacking access to contraceptives. This, at the end lead them to a miserable life where themselves and their children get stunted and face other issues including lack of capacity to pay health insurance for example. It is a must that all the laws that deprive them the rights to access contraceptives are revisited.” Mwananawe noted.

Statistics show that family planning users increased to 64 percent in 2019-2020 from 53 percent in 2014-2015.