Maravi

Simbao urges couples to discuss family planning

COMMENT - To this administration, 'family planning' is just another way to blame the poor for poverty. They have their snouts in the trough, and everyone else can go to hell. Too bad that poverty in Zambia is caused by their cowardice in taxing the mines, or would that be their taking bribes from western mining corporations. Until they heavily tax their 'friends', they have no moral highground to speak from. And they should be very, very quiet about how poor people run their lives.

Simbao urges couples to discuss family planning
Written by Agness Changala
Wednesday, August 26, 2009 5:16:34 PM

HEALTH minister Kapembwa Simbao has advised Zambian couples to consider having a maximum of two children or none at all if they can’t afford to look after them. Launching the National Family Planning (NFP) campaign in Lusaka yesterday, Simbao said the purpose of family planning was not about population control.

“We are emphasising on the importance of having only as many children as we are able to care for responsibly and comfortably so that they have a good quality of life,” he said.

Simbao observed that when families had many more children than they could afford to feed, send to school and parent effectively, the children grew up without a fair chance of becoming healthy and educated adults, able to positively contribute to their communities.

He said planning a family was a responsibility of the parents involved.

“Couples need to discuss with each other how many children they want to have and can care for well. They also need to discuss when they should start their family, how far apart in age their children should be and when they have reached their desired family size,” said Simbao.

And US Ambassador Donald Booth said family planning could help Zambia fulfill the ambition of becoming a middle income country as described in the vision 2030.

“Zambians taking informed and responsible actions for their health,” he said.

Ambassador Booth also said the NFP campaign would give Zambians the information and access to services they needed to avoid unintended pregnancies and prevent the spread of diseases such as HIV and AIDS.

Labels: FAMILY PLANNING, KAPEMBWA SIMBAO

posted by MrK @ 4:18 PM