family planning

“These are issues that need to be challenged, says CPL Foundation Chairman Sir Mahesh Patel.”

Sir Mahesh said, “We face significant challenges and we need to address them head on for the benefit of our nation’s future generations.”

At the launch of the CPL Foundation’s Family Planning advocacy Centre, Sir Mahesh said family planning is not just a health issue, but also a fundamental human right.

MSPNG personnel presented sessions on Family Planning (FP) and Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) that formed part of the Health Awareness Program facilitated by the PNG Cancer Foundation (PNGCF) Programs Coordinator, Renee Marru, on Friday 30th June held at the Lohia-Rahe Resource Centre.

With the theme ‘Start the conversation. Let’s take action. Make healthy lifestyle choices,’ 32 female residents of Vabukori participated in the awareness session where they learned how to care for their loved ones in terms of Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH). 

Saddened by the news of the passing of the student UNFPA is renewing calls for quality reproductive health education in schools to prevent such tragedies.

“This was a young girl with her life ahead of her,” said UNFPA Country Representative, Marielle Sander.

“All the contributions she was to make for her family and community have been lost,” she added.

UNFPA is calling for better health education so that both boys and girls are taught about respectful and safe relationships, in addition to reproductive health information such as family planning.

Lekwa Gure, Deputy Party Leader of ULP and Member for Rigo Open, presented the party’s 16 policy statements in the third seminar facilitated by the PNG National Research Institute (PNG NRI) last Friday, 12^th of November.

ULP’s eighth policy statement states, “Responsible family planning based on PNG socioeconomics for population growth.”

MP Gure said the country’s population is growing at 3.1 percent, while the country’s economic growth is approximately 2.5 percent.

The outreaches provide contraceptive education, information and services for women and girls, which can have significant health, societal and economic benefits.

One beneficiary was 26-year-old Sarah Greg who attended a temporary Marie Stopes clinic set up near Wampar Health Centre in Huon District.

Despite being new to family planning, Sarah was no stranger to the hardship of having too many children.

“I come from a large family. Watching my mother struggle to care for my siblings, and it made me realise I do not want the same life,” she said.

Marie Stopes (MSPNG) PNG is encouraging fathers and young men to consider having a vasectomy when they are certain they do not want any children.

MSPNG’s Director for Service Delivery, Loretta Bele said MSPNG has performed over 10,000 NSVs since it began operations in 2006.

“In 2009, when we started doing NSV, we served 17 men. By 2019, we provided vasectomies to more than 2,400 men in PNG, covering both rural and urban communities,” she said.

Dr David Ayers, Director of Marie Stopes PNG said during these times the demand for family planning and sexual and reproductive health services increases.

“Marie Stopes is an international organization that worked throughout the world during times of crisis like the Ebola epidemic in Africa so the organization in PNG draws on a lot of that knowledge. We know, for example, that domestic violence increases during these times and often the consequence of domestic violence is sexual and reproductive health problems in women.

Soon enough, there's a knock on the door and the women quietly enter the clinic while their husbands keep watch in the dark.

One talks of her failure to access family planning at her local health centre because the nurse was from her village.

“If I went to her, I knew my family and community would find out the same day that I have gone looking for family planning,” she says.

“Using modern family planning methods is against the social and religious beliefs of my family and community. I cannot risk it.”

A one week training was conducted at the Bialla health centre involving six health workers from six health posts in the district. The family planning training was conducted by the West New Britain Health Authorities with major support from the United National Population Fund or UNFPA. The training program focused on a simple procedure that does not involve an operation, on the male client. This procedure is deemed to be an alternative of a woman receiving Tubal ligation.

The new outreach program base, supported by the Oil Search Foundation, is located at Pii Laydown Junction.

“The launch represents a major partnership exercise between MSPNG and the Hela Provincial Health Authority and is focused on supporting the maternal child health care needs in Hela under the Wok Bung Wantaim (WBW) initiative,” said Rodney Ingersoll, Oil Search Foundation’s Hela Provincial Development Manager.

“Lessons learned will be shared widely in a united effort towards improving front line service delivery.”