THE government is calling on the public to embrace family planning methods to control the country’s soaring population growth.
Speaking yesterday in Nairobi at the launch of United Nations Population Fund’s 2012 State of the World report, Planning PS Edward Sambili asked the public health sector to improve its facilities to enable them address its needs.
Sambili said family planning will help reduce abortions, which currently stand at 300,000. In a speech read on his behalf by the director of administration, John Nandasaba, Sambili attributed the skyrocketing poverty indices to reluctance by Kenyans to use contraceptives.
“Unplanned pregnancies are reversing the economic gains being made, while contributing to the rising cases of abortions,” Sambili said.
According to the report, whose theme is Family Planning, Human Rights and Development, one in every four women would like to delay or stop child bearing but do not use any family planning methods.
The report calls for measures that will increase the uptake of family planning services to the 15-24 age group, which is hardest hit. It recommends the provision of knowledge and improvement of access to geographical regions that have difficulties in acquiring family planning services.
The report appeals for an uptake of contraceptives to lower the current fertility rate from 4.6 per cent to two per cent. “We need to increase access to FP services so that women and couples who need them can enjoy their benefits,” said Eliud Wekesa, a lead researcher from the University of Nairobi.
If not checked, Kenya’s population, currently at 40 million, is predicted to soar to 64 million in 2030. The National Council for Population and Development CEO Boniface K’Oyugi reiterated the need to manage the population, saying it will play a critical role in realising the Kenya Vision 2030 goals.
“We hope to achieve the goal of two children per household in 2050 if we encourage the public to embrace the use of contraceptives,” K’Oyugi said.
