‘Use contraception for healthier lives’
The Greater Accra Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Linda Vanotoo, has charged women, particularly the young ones, to embrace contraceptive usage to lead healthier lives.
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She said aside from helping women to better plan their births, contraceptive use also prevented them from suffering from pregnancy-related ill health and the risks associated with the termination of unwanted pregnancies.
Dr Vanotoo gave the charge at the launch of a new brand of female contraceptives introduced to Ghana by DKT International, a private provider of contraceptive products and services.
The contraceptives, which have the brand name “Lydia”, range from an injectable, an Intra-Uterine Device (IUD), oral contraceptive pills and emergency contraceptive pills.
Dr Vanotoo indicated that records showed that 5,000 young females from the age of 15 died from pregnancy-related complications in 2013.
She entreated midwives and health practitioners to educate young females on the need to use contraceptives to prevent unwanted pregnancies.
Benefits of contraceptives
The Head of the Reproduction Health Unit of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr Ali Samba, said contraceptives helped women to achieve optimum reproductive health.
In addition, contraception helped to improve the well-being of families and communities, as it reduced economic strains on the family and gave women the opportunity to decide when to have children, he stated.
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According to him, it had been proved that contraceptive products helped to boost the blood level in women to give their bodies a healthier look.
Dr Samba encouraged the public to use contraceptive products to reduce pregnancy-related deaths in the country.
The Country Director of DKT International, Mr Kevin Hudson, said “Lydia” sought to give women the opportunity to make the right decisions on timely pregnancy.
The product, he said, also sought to reduce the high mortality rate in the country.
Mr Hudson said the company had developed social marketing and franchised programmes for family planning and safe abortion in 19 countries around the world, including Ghana.