A year after reaching out to the visually impaired people with family planning information in
Braille language, the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council has again introduced
province –wide community WhatsApp groups in which it continues to spread best family
planning practices aiming to reach out to remote communities.
According to Percival Kushure, Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council publicist, they
are going to reach out to as many people as they can through the WhatsApp groups.
“We also have Community Based (family planning services) Distributors (CBDs) across the
province, who carry out door-to-door campaigns by word of mouth and through pamphlets in
different languages in our bid to control birth rates.
“On braille, we introduced it after noticing that the group was being left out, yet our goal is to
have the information and services being accessed and availed by everyone,” Kushure said.
Asked if the move was not necessitated by the number of children born of visually impaired
persons, who are seen on the streets every day, Kushure said, the council had not yet
conducted a study of trends of child births by the visually impaired.
He, however, said: “If you just go around town you will see that the blind will be having a lot
of kids, almost of the same age.
They, therefore, also need family planning information in a language they understand.”
The council has also gone a step further by ensuring that all its provincial staff understand
sign language for the benefit of the speech impaired persons.
So far, all their facilities are manned by persons who are conversant in Sign Language. These
facilities include their offices, clinics and youth friendly corners dotted across the province.
Practising family planning is healthy and beneficial to both men (fathers), women (mothers)
and children.
For mothers, family planning enables them to regain their health after delivery, whilst also
giving them enough time to take care of the child and husband.
It again gives her more time for her family and personal advancement and when having some
form of illness, it gives her enough time for treatment and recovery.
For children family planning by their parents means they will also get enough time and space
to be nurtured and loved and protected.
For fathers, family planning lightens their burden on family support whilst enabling them to
give their children their basic needs such as food, education, shelter and a better future.
It also gives them space for advancement.
The Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council in its bid to control births has different
forms of contraceptives on offer across the province.
These include long lasting contraceptives in the form of implants like Jadelle, loop and Depo
Provera. Also available are condoms and pills.
The council has been training nurses to insert the implants across the province and most rural
clinics have someone trained to insert them.
The trainings are ongoing since due to attrition, those that are being trained are leaving for
greener pastures, hence the need for continuous training of these “special” nurses.
Family planning is the practice of managing, controlling and planning the number of children
an individual or couple has.
The planning includes the management of intervals between having children.

There are many types of family planning that can be used.
Several factors need to be taken into consideration when selecting the right type of family
planning; there is no one-size-fits-all option.
The methods in brief include, Injection contraception, patches, oral tablets, intra-uterine
contraceptive devices as well as implants.
On injections, a progesterone only injection can be given every eight or 12 weeks. The
progesterone prevents the release of the egg each month (Ovulation) and also thickens the
cervical mucus, making it difficult for the sperm to move through the cervix.
There can be a delay in getting back to fertility after stopping the injection.
Patches; a hormonal patch is applied to the abdomen, buttock or upper arm once a week,
starting on the first day of one’s menstrual cycle.
After every three weeks you will be patch-free for one week to allow menstruation. The patch
releases oestrogen and progesterone to prevent pregnancy.
There are various oral contraceptive combinations and depending on your individual needs
and circumstances, I will advise which will be most suited to you.
Oral contraceptives work by releasing synthetic oestrogen and progesterone in order to
prevent ovulation while thickening cervical mucous in order to obstruct the sperm’s pathway
towards the ovaries.
The intrauterine device is a small t-shaped device. Plastic IUDs release the hormones
required to prevent egg implantation and copper IUDs release ions which kill sperm.
Copper IUDs do not release any hormones and therefore have no hormonal side-effects. Once
removed, one will be able to conceive immediately.
The contraceptive implant is a tiny, thin rod that contains the hormone progesterone that is
inserted under the skin in the upper arm.
It stays in for three to five years, after which it will be removed and replaced, if required.
Emergency family planning pills are usually on demand in Bindura when universities are
open.
However of late, they are on demand from youths taking mutoriro, crystal methyl who are
having gang sexual escapades at drug bases.
Both youths are more scared of being pregnant than getting STI’S or related diseases.