KABUL – A wide range of Afghan and international participants took part in a February 28-29 conference on improving access to family planning in Afghanistan.
The Afghanistan office of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, organized the conference in partnership with the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), the International Council on Management of Population Programmes (ICOMP) and the financial support of the Government of Iceland.
The 100 attendees came from MoPH, international and national NGOs, academe and the media, and included religious and community leaders as well as government officials in family planning and reproductive health programmes. The overall objective was to improve access to family planning/birth spacing. Key leaders and at the national and sub-national levels participated.
“Ninety per cent of currently married women know of a method of contraception, yet only 22 per cent use any family planning method. I hope this conference will help us to plug this gap,” acting minister of Public Health Dr. Suraya Dalil said at the opening session, citing the 2010 Afghanistan Mortality Survey.
“My Government and people of my country are looking forward to the outcomes of this conference, since it provides a platform to share our experience and knowledge and prepare for a final push to achieve Millennium Development Goal number 5, which calls for reduction of maternal mortality by three quarters and ensuring universal access to reproductive health by 2015,” she added.
Resource persons were drawn from countries with large Muslim populations, including Indonesia, Iran, India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Pakistan. Speakers from the UNFPA Asia and the Pacific Regional Office (APRO), MoPH, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and international NGOs shared regional and national perspectives on family planning/birth spacing issues.
“I am very pleased about the open dialogue that has taken place during this conference,” said Dr. Laurent Zessler, UNFPA Representative in Afghanistan. “UNFPA stands behind the commitment of the Ministry of Public Health to invest in family planning in Afghanistan as an important mean to reduce maternal mortality.”
Sharing experience with other Islamic countries provided interesting new inputs to a national dialogue with religious leader, which participants agreed is a first priority for moving forward. Reliable data, coordination mechanisms and training opportunities were identified as fundamental needs to reduce the gap between awareness and actual use of contraceptive methods.
Broadly, the conference examined the current status of family planning/birth spacing and inequities in access to family planning, addressing issues related to the quality of care and health system strengthening, sociocultural and religious challenges, rights-based approaches, equality and women’s empowerment, male involvement, reproductive health commodity security, collaboration and partnerships, and resource mobilization for family planning.
Participants also reviewed the strategies and action points developed at a 2010 family planning workshop in Bangkok organized by APRO and ICOMP and its “Call for the Elimination of Unmet Needs for Family Planning in Asia Pacific Region”.
At the end of the conference, participants agreed that further progress in advancing family planning/birth spacing in Afghanistan would require more national dialogue with religious leaders. They called for a follow-up workshop with more involvement of provincial leaders and regional officers, the establishment of a coordination mechanism with development partner NGOs, and leadership training for provincial officers in promoting family planning.
For more information, please contact:
Gaia Chiti Strigelli, tel. +93 7 9000 5306, chitistrigelli@unfpa.org
