Hormonal birth control to curb pregnancies, unsafe abortions
Baboki Kayawe | Wednesday July 27, 2016 13:49
A sexual reproductive health specialist, Lesego Mokganya has revealed that 65% of pregnancies were unplanned while 35% were unwanted as contained in a study conducted in Francistown between 2007 and 2009.
On a national scale, she said, the Botswana AIDS Impact Survey 2011 found that 50.2% of pregnancies were unplanned for.
It is against this backdrop that the Ministry of Health yesterday introduced the hormonal birth controls; implanon (a matchstick-sized rod that is inserted in the arm to prevent pregnancy), and vaginal ring meant to offer variety in sexual reproductive health services.
At the launch, deputy permanent secretary for preventive service, Dr Haruna Jibril said the unwanted pregnancies posed associated complications such as high maternal mortality, escalating unsafe abortions, teenage pregnancy and low involvement of males in sexual reproductive health issues.
“Maternal mortality ratio for 2014 was at 151.6 and abortion related deaths came third in the causes of maternal mortality in Botswana,” he said.
The latter, he said were pregnancies that were not only unplanned but also unwanted, which ended in loss of lives as well as physical and mental health problems.
According to the Botswana Family Health Survey IV of 2007, the contraceptive prevalence rate stands at 52.3%. This rate increased from 44% in 1996.
According to Jibril, the same study denotes that knowledge of family planning methods also increased from 97% in 1996 to 98.3% in 2007.
“However, despite the observed achievement, our nation is still assailed by unplanned pregnancies and the maladies that are associated with it,” he said.
Nonetheless, health officials stressed the uptake of combined contraceptive usage- where individuals can choose whatever contraceptive regime befitting medical assessment as well as personal preference but include condomising in the mix.