Minister of Health, Chitalu Chilufya has attributed the progress towards meeting the targeted modern contraceptive prevalence rate to government’s mix of policy and programmatic approaches.
Dr Chilufya however said with the current MCPR of 45 percent as at 2014, the country needs further evidence based programming to help accelerate scale up to meet the contraceptive needs of women and men and also achieve its 2020 goal.
The Minister of Health said this in Lusaka today in a speech read on his behalf by Permanent Secretary for Technical Services, Dr Jabin Mulwanda.
This was during the official opening of the Evidence for Action Symposium hosted by the government of Zambia, Population Council and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
The Evidence for Action Symposium is being held under the theme “Family Panning Saves Live: Accelerate Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.
The symposium has brought together reproductive health, HIV and adolescents health experts and researchers in Zambia to review and disseminate key evidence to inform family planning policies and programs especially as they relate to social and economic development.
And Population Council President, Julia Bunting commended Zambia for its pledge to expanding method mix and increase access to family planning particularly for the underserved populations.
Ms Bunting also hailed Zambia for increasing domestic funding and partnerships with donors and for strengthening the supply chain for commodities.
She said the Population Council is keen to work with government to generate and deliver the much needed evidence to accelerate progress in family planning among the adolescents.
Ms Bunting said investing in family planning will enable governments to save an estimated from 2 to 6 United States Dollars, money which can be invested in health care, housing, education and other public services.
Meanwhile, UNFPA Deputy Country Representative Chinwe Ogbonna said effective use of Evidence for Action on reproductive health will help especially young people to exercise their right to make right choices and decisions.
Ms Ogbonna reaffirmed UNFPA’s support to government and the Zambian people in sustaining efforts aimed at fostering strategic alliances towards the delivery of quality reproductive health care services.
Contraceptive should have been active 60 years ago, and wouldn’t have so many useless PF.
including your father if you have one…..
@Mature there is still time to hang yourself, you regret that you were born? Is it the reason you minimize having babies?