Family Planning in Eswatini

Family Planning in Eswatini

Family Planning is the ability of an individual or couple to plan their family size, birth intervals of their children, when to start and stop having children through the use of family planning methods that are safe, effective, accessible and acceptable. These include both modern and natural family planning methods.

Eswatini Family Planning programme is by far one of the leading programmes in Africa as there are proportionally more currently married women who are using modern methods of contraception than in other countries. In 2014, the Contraceptive Prevalence Rate reached 66% thereby putting the country on the same spot as Zimbabwe with the highest CPR in the continent. 

Despite these tremendous achievements by the government, inequalities in terms of access to Family Planning continue to exist among different groups of women particularly younger and vulnerable women. According to MICS 2014, younger women aged 20-24 and older women aged 45-49 tend to have the highest unmet need for family planning at 17% and 22% respectively. Similar, women with no education have the highest unmet need for family planning at 22% compared to women with tertiary level education who have an unmet need of just 6%. The Ministry of Health working with capable and experienced civic society organisation like FLAS, continue to   implement interventions aimed at scaling up access and integrating Family Planning in all service delivery areas especially in ART centres and the provision of comprehensive FP information and services to all persons according to their needs.

Benefits of Family Planning

Family Planning provide women, families and countries with lots of benefits. Delaying or spacing babies allows women and men to follow education and career goals that may be interrupted by having children. This empowers people and increases their ability to earn more. With fewer children, families are also able to invest more in each child.

Reducing Pregnancy- Related Risk

Girls and young women are especially at risk of problems in pregnancy. Contraception allows them to put off having children until their bodies are fully able to support a pregnancy. It can also prevent pregnancy for older women who face pregnancy-related risks. Contraceptive use also reduces the need for abortion by preventing unwanted pregnancies. It therefore reduces cases of unsafe abortion, one of the leading causes of maternal death worldwide.

Reducing Teenage Pregnancies

Contraceptive use also reduces teenage pregnancies. By using contraception, young women can prevent unwanted pregnancies that can have negative impacts on their relationships and ambitions.

Healthy Babies

Pregnancies that are too close together or poorly timed contribute to high infant mortality rates – that is, the rate of babies that die within their first year of life. Contraceptive use lets women plan their pregnancies so they can make sure the baby is getting the best care before and after birth.

Population Pressures

Contraceptive use slows population growth. This is important because overpopulation puts pressure on the environment, the economy and services such as education and health.

In Conclusion, sexually active people have many options to choose from when considering a method of pregnancy prevention. There is indeed need to increase and scale up access to family planning methods for the whole population especially the marginalised, vulnerable and poor of the poorest. Next week article will specifically deal with the methods of contraceptive available in the country, their benefits as well as their limitations.

Maxwell Dlamini

Family Life Association of Eswatini.