The
Head of office and operations at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
Country Office The Gambia, Kunle Adeniyi, says UNFPA wants a Gambia where every
child can go to school.
They
aim is to create greater understanding around family planning services and
commodities, generate demand for uptake of family planning services in
communities, register new family planning acceptors in Lower River and Upper
River Regions and dispel myths on family planning and diseases.
He
was speaking in an interview with Journalists on Monday May 15th at Gambisara
URR while taking part in the Family Planning Campaign organized by his office
and partners.
He
said it is important that every woman has control over the number of children
she wants to have because there are many outcomes that comes from this.
“We
want to see a Gambia where every child can go to school, where everybody can
look after their children and then the circle of poverty is broken,” he said.
“There
is no way you can do that without having some measures that can control the
number of children so that we can really take care of them. Is it going to
happen in one day? No, is it going to take a while. But we are still cognizant
of the improvement and we are encouraged seeing people like us. We are working
with young people, media and other partners and we believe that everybody is an
advocate of the message and carries it along. We will continue to celebrate the
progress we made,” he said.
He
said UNFPA has committed to the drive to ensure that every woman in The Gambia
has the option of the number of children she wants to have. He said their major
aim is to come up with this kind of initiative to prevent maternal deaths and
to ensure that no woman dies whilst giving birth. He said they have come to
very traditional communities in URR for many reasons. He said a lot of times
they feel neglected because they are very far from the centre or where things
happen.
He
said they have come with mobile intervention on Family Planning, cervical
cancer screening for mothers and women and also provide HIV counseling and
testing so that women and men can make healthy choices.
He
said the campaign started last year in Farafenni and is something that is going
to happen in every region across the country.
He
said the nine days will cover URR and LRR. He said the idea is to boost the
efficacy of health workers in these communities.
He
lauded the reasonable turn out considering the community they were in. He said
there were a lot women coming for cervical cancer screening before he went to
the Governor’s office, and the school, where activities were also going on. “It
is about service delivery and awareness creation,” he concluded.