By Florence Afriyie Mensah, GNA
Kumasi, Oct, 02, GNA – The Muslim Family
Counselling Services, has organized a forum to discuss issues on family
planning and adolescent reproductive health with the people in the Asawase
community, in Kumasi.
This was a satellite event ahead of an international
conference on family planning to be held in Kigali, Rwanda from 12 – 15th
November, this year.
It also formed part of this year’s World
Contraception Day celebration, which seeks to increase awareness of
contraceptive methods available to enable young people make informed choices on
their sex and reproductive health.
Mr Mohammed Bun Bida, Lead Advocate for the
Inclusion of Family Planning, speaking at the event, said it was time the
people, especially women and young people in Muslim communities were helped to
have better understanding of the importance of family planning.
He said the aim of the forum was also to keep
the people abreast of the new National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) amended
Act 2012, (Act 852) meant to include clinical methods of family planning into
the benefit package of NHIS to benefit women of reproductive age.
That would also to contribute to the
attainment of Ghana’s commitment to Family Planning 2020 (FP2020).
Mr. Bida said the FP2020 was targeting
120,000,000 additional women with information and services on family planning
by year 2020.
Around the world, he noted, the satellite
family planning events were being hosted to ignite local conversations on the
issue ahead of the international conference, which would be the fifth global
gathering.
The conference is expected to highlight the
extensive and far-reaching social and economic benefits of family planning
investments – for individuals, families and countries.
GNA