World contraceptive day marked in Tamale

A free contraceptive service and sensitization was organized in Tamale, the Northern Regional capital yesterday, as part of activities to mark this year’s World Contraception Day.

It was organized by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in collaboration with the Total Family Health Organisation (TFHO), an NGO with support from USAID Health Marketing.

Speaking at the event, Mr Mammah Tenii, the Reproductive Health Specialist at the UNFPA Tamale office said, the celebration was part of a week-long family planning activity to create awareness and educate the residents on the importance of family planning especially among the youth.

“It also forms part of our organization’s mission to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled”, the Reproductive Health Specialist said.

According to him, it was essential that family planning services and supplies remained available during times of crisis, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, contraception and family planning services needed to be identified as an essential health service to ensure that staffing and services remained a priority everywhere.

Mr Mammah also said that access to contraceptive and family planning services were fundamental human right and health systems must be able to adapt to respond to crises to ensure the continuity of care for policymakers to keep quality of care at the center of all strategies.

Ms Roberta Amoah, a health worker at the University for Development Studies clinic said, the family planning education at the grassroots mainly in beauty salons had renewed commitment to seize on the best ideas for improvement and to address the structural weaknesses that existed.

“This won’t happen overnight, but we now have a springboard for rethinking how quality care can be delivered among the vulnerable in the society”, she said.

Ms Felicia Atongo, a beneficiary of the project and also a saloon owner in Tamale, commended TFHO for the family planning education, which has had a positive impact on many of the apprentices in the metropolis.

Ms Salamatu Abdulai, Technical Advisor for family planning at TFHO, said the secure salon initiative was to give women in hard-to-reach locations access to life-saving sexual and reproductive health services.

She said, over 100 hand dryers were given to some beneficiaries to support their business after they were sensitized on the various methods of family planning.