Western districts to receive specialised family planning information

By Moya Nina Iowa
North and South Fly people of Western will now have access to specialised family planning services. Marie Stopes Papua New Guinea (MSPNG) has set up its new outreach programmes in both districts.
The programmes will be launched tomorrow in North Fly at the district health office in Kiunga, and on Friday for South Fly at Daru hospital.
MSPNG’s country director Malmee Weerasiri said PNG still had some of the poorest health outcomes in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in maternal and child health.
Weerasiri said this was why family planning was widely considered as one of the most cost-effective interventions to improve maternal health and promote sustainable population growth in PNG.
MSPNG wants to make sure that its services were available to everyone and considered it its duty to help build the capacity of the country’s local health sector with the partnership of the Government, provincial and district authorities, rural communities, and donor agencies, in its efforts to roll out family
planning to more provinces in the country.
MSPNG is an international non-government organisation that specialises in family planning services in PNG, helping women to have children by choice, not chance. They do this by providing contraception and safe abortion to women in urban and rural communities.
First established in 2006, MSPNG is now the largest provider of sexual and reproductive healthcare in the country and works with the Government on the National Health Plan 2011-2020 to increase the uptake of modern contraception, and train public and private health workers to better meet the demand for family planning services.
MSPNG’s records for 2016 showed 88,770 people used contraception. It also showed that 33,118 unintended pregnancies were prevented and there were 43,133 client visits.
As well as delivering services, MSPNG’s teams also use a range of methods to build knowledge, understanding and acceptance of family planning.
This includes discussions around gender roles that help shift the cultural attitudes of the male population in PNG to a more respectful view of women’s rights and contraceptive choices.