Kampala — FOR the last 10 months, Lira Hospital has not had contraceptives. The hospital has only pills which the women do not like. The district health officer, Dr. Peter Kusolo, said injections and implants, the most preferred methods of family planning, were not available.

He added that women were getting unwanted pregnancies and resorting to either having abortions or big families they cannot support. The women talked to concurred that they preferred injections and implants because they are discreet methods and can be used for longer periods.

Injections take three months, while implants take between three and five years. "The shortage of the long-term contraceptives has caused a big problem in Lira because pills are not popular here," Kusolo noted during the Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) tour of the hospital to assess the use of family planning supplies.

The senior principal nursing officer, Petua Alobo, said most of the women in the district had between five and 10 children as a result of lack of family planning methods.

"Besides, many women get complications as they attempt to abort locally. Some even lose their lives," she added.

Every year, about 6,000 Ugandan women die from pregnancy related causes, according to RHU. About 297,000 women have induced abortions, most of them unsafe.

Up to 40% of these deaths, and about 85% of induced abortions could be prevented if all women were able to access modern methods of family planning.