Joseph Waninda
3 November 2009
On October 30, Uganda marked Safe Motherhood Day under the theme "Healthy Timing and Spacing of Pregnancies." According to the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey 2006, Uganda's maternal mortality rate stands at 435 per every 100,000 live births, most of which results from frequent unintended pregnancies. Low contraceptive has been highlighted as one of the key factors contributing to the high maternal mortality rate.
Unsafe abortions which arise from unintended pregnancies also contribute to maternal deaths. High rates of population growth are largely the result of frequent child bearing or high fertility, which is often coupled with lack of family planning in the country. Recent statistics also reveal that the number of women in their reproductive age using contraception in Uganda stands at 24 per cent, thus increase in the number of unwanted pregnancies.
Family Planning is one of the pillars of safe motherhood but the unmet need for contraceptives has risen from about 35 per cent in 2001 to 41 per cent today. This contributes to maternal mortality through births that are too early, too frequent or too many. Failing to meet this need will result in unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, maternal and infant mortality and diminished economic growth.
There are many factors associated with the failure to meet family planning needs such as access to modern contraceptives and lack of sufficient information about contraceptives. While the relationship between fertility and economic development is complex and often reciprocal, research in developing countries has shown that reducing fertility can yield economic benefits at both the household and national levels. Family planning for instance contributes to the overall health, economic growth and social development of the nation.
Meanwhile, high fertility in poor families disadvantages individual children and contributes to high rates of household poverty, illness, and maternal and child mortality.
High fertility also adversely affects national educational attainment because many families cannot afford to send their children to school. Consequently, the nation suffers a loss of human potential since the majority of the population is not engaged in productive work. This increases dependency. On the other hand, having fewer, healthy children can reduce the economic burden on families, allowing them to invest more in each child's welfare.
Freedom to determine the number and spacing of one's children is a basic human right. Couples are entitled to accessible and affordable family planning services and information to help them exercise this right and stakeholders must play a major role in addressing the problem of high mortality. Policy makers and various organisations and communities equally have important roles to play in ensuring adequate resources and commitment are given to family planning if we are to save the lives of mothers and children.
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