By Regina Benneh / Christopher Tetteh, GNA
Sunyani, Sept.20, GNA - Chief Alhassan Issahaku Amadu, a retired Northern Regional Population officer on Wednesday advised couples to take up family planning to help reduce the rapid population growth in the country.
He observed that family planning apart from controlling child birth help couples to save money to take proper care of the sizable family.
Chief Amadu, a consultant and facilitator of the workshop noted that family planning reduces maternal mortality by preventing high risk pregnancies that were “too early, tool close, too many and too late”.
He made the call at the opening of a three day capacity building workshop for representatives of 38 Non–Governmental Organizations (NGO) draw from all the regions nationwide at Techiman in the Bono East Regional.
It aimed at building the capacity of participants to help in the advocacy of ending child marriage and other forms of girl child abuse to ensure gender transformation and development in the country.
The workshop was organized by Ghana NGOs Coalition on the Right of the Child (GNCRC) in collaboration with Girls Not Bride (GNB) both local NGOs that fights the negative impact of child marriage and the Sexual Reproductive Health Right (SRHR).
Family planning help couples to consider decisions as to the numbers of children to have at a particular moment to save the family from overburden, he said.
He urged couples to visits appropriate facility for the practicing of family planning to avoid all forms of complications so that they could plan very well for the future to become responsible parents.
Chief Amadu observed that many people particularly the youth resorted to abortion as a form of family planning, adding that abortion was never one of the methods of family planning.
He therefore advised the youth to stay away from early sex to prevent an unwanted pregnancy adding that abstinence was 100 percent contraceptive.
Chief Amadu advised pregnant and expectant mothers to attend antenatal clinic as soon as possible.
He asked pregnant women to obey advises given at health centres by taking their antenatal drugs, which prevented the unborn baby and the mothers from diseases and ensured the proper growth of the child before and after birth.
He said child marriage which has been a global issue needed to be critically looked at to save the girl child from psychological and emotional trauma.
The 2014 demographic report, he said, indicated that Northern Region was leading with 39.6 percent and advised parents to rather equip their children with skills and knowledge that would give them a better future.
Chief Adamu said women should have control over their lives and they should be free from physical and emotional stress as well as abuses saying 95 percent of gender violence recorded in the country were against women.
GNA
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