Source: AfricaScienceNews
The international community should rally behind efforts to expand access to modern birth control options among women of child bearing age in sub-Saharan Africa. Such efforts will accerelate attainment of MDG 4 and 5 on infant and maternal health respectively,transform economies and sustain social and political stability.
Melinda Gates,the Co-chair, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation joined a growing army of advocates championing for universal access to contraceptives inorder to empower women in poverty stricken corners of the globe who are often denied this critical service. Speaking to a global audience through a live webcast,Melinda reiterated that family planning will be accorded significant attention within the Gates foundation core programs. The mother of three who is married to Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman and a consumate philanthropist was categorical that expanding access to familiy planning services among African women could leapfrog the continent to greater levels of prosperity.
Family planning despite the moral and religious controversies it generates can not be wished away in the 21st century. Melinda said that”a billion people use birth control without hesitation.They use it because they want the power to plan their own lives and to raise healthier,better educated and more prosperous families.” She regretted that birth control still elicits enormous opposition from the conservative sections of society. Some people think contraceptives are a code for abortion,which they are not.Some people are uncomfortable because contraceptives have to do with sex,” Melinda remarked.
She added that as a result, birth control has almost disappeared from the global health agenda.The victim of this paralysis are the people of Sub-saharan Africa and the poorest parts of South Asia. Access to modern contraceptives is still a mirage in many African countries where 60% of women who desires to avoid pregnancy are not using them due to poverty,infrastructural hiccups and social-cultural barriers. Melinda Gates observed that 66% of Germans and and 64% of Thai population use modern birth control options while a partly 10% 0f Nigerians and 2% of Chadians have access to effective family planning tools. She decried appalling stock outs of safe and affordable birth control options such as injectables in health centers across Africa.
“Women need an injection every three months,but every time they go to the clinic,the shelves are empty.This situation is common across the African continent”Melinda intoned.
Providing African women with modern contraceptives will transform societies,boost economies and reduce maternal and infant mortalities.Melinda noted that many parts of the world have reached the threshold in providing birth control pills to women of child bearing age. She stressed that because in region after region parents have again and again decided to have smaller families,there is no reoson to believe that African women have innately different desires from the rest of the women in the world. Back tracking on family planning reverses gains made on women empowerment,endangers countries` economies and is a drawback to social progress. Melinda was categorical that birth control will provide sustainable solution to high maternal and infant deaths,poverty and under-development in Africa.
She cited the case of a young businesswoman in a Nairobi slum who has settled for three children and is optimistic about her future since she can pursue her business interests without being encumbered by unmanageable number of children.“This is the same mental calculus hundreds of millions of women have gone through,and the evidence proves that these women have it exactly right.They are able to give their children more opportunities by exercising control over when they have them,” said Melinda. She revealed that the East Asian economic miracle was largely triggered by greater uptake of modern cotraceptives.
Couples in the Asian tigers gave birth to fewer children whom they provided better nutrition,quality healthcare and education. “When families in Sub-saharan Africa are given the opportunity to make these decisions,it will help spark a virtuous cycle of development in communities across the continent,” Melinda remarked. She challenged the international community to inject fresh momentum towards efforts aimed at achieving universal access to modern family planning services among women in resource constrained African nations.