More women accessing family planning services in Gwanda

Gwanda (New Ziana) – More women are now accessing free family planning services in Gwanda district in Matabeleland south province, courtesy of financial support from government and several partners, an official has said.

The support is being given under the Health Resilience Fund (HRF) and women in all areas of the country are accessing it.

Apart from government, contributions to the fund also come from the European Union, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Vaccine Alliance, with technical support from UNFPA, UNICEF and WHO.

Samkelisiwe Nyathi, the acting sister in charge of Gwanda’s Phakama Poly Clinic, confirmed the increased uptake of long-term contraceptives in Gwanda.

“We offer free family planning services to all women. We have staff who are trained to offer services such as Implants and IUD which are long- term methods and also injectables and pills together with condoms to all women in need of those services,” she said.

“We are having an increased uptake of family planning services since the fourth quarter of 2023. For injectables, we saw 296 women compared to 268 we saw in the first quarter of 2023. We gave 241 implants in the first quarter of 2024. For IUD, in the 2023 fourth quarter we gave 75 women, then for 2024, we inserted IUD in 84 women,” she added.

An intrauterine device (IUD), also known as an intrauterine contraceptive device (IUCD), is a small T-shaped plastic device with copper banded around the transverse arms, which is inserted into the uterus to prevent pregnancy.

Nyathi said the clinic conducts regular outreaches to reach women who fail to come to the clinic for family planning services.

“We are able to reach out to the hard-to-reach areas through integrated outreaches. Some women are unable to come to the clinic because of religious (reasons) but we make arrangements to reach them with those services,” she said.

She, however, said not many adolescent girls are getting contraceptives.

“We give them health education in schools and through outreach to those who are out of school because it is difficult for them to come to the clinic. They are not coming as per our plan because they are shy and there is stigma due to cultural issues,” said Nyathi.

New Ziana