Testimonies
Brayant Gonzales
Family Planning Organization of the Philippines (FPOP)
“Since the Philippines is the only Catholic country in Asia (the nearest other such country is East Timor), the Church really asserts its doctrines there, including during elections every three years. They emphasize that we shouldn’t vote for politicians who support family planning. But the last survey on this issue, in 2002, showed that many young people are becoming less religious, especially those in urban areas, who don’t tend to go to mass or are not really practicing their religion.”
Sarita Barpanda
Interact Worldwide, India
“India’s flagship national health programme – the National Rural Health Programme – primarily focuses on family planning, reproductive health and maternal health. But family planning is the most under-implemented aspect. The focus is on maternal health, and people haven’t yet made the connection between maternal health and family planning.”
Nana Amma Oforiwaa Sam
Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana
“In 2007, the Government declared a state of emergency for maternal health, which made it possible for expectant mothers who have registered under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to access free antenatal and delivery care. This was a laudable initiative but the Government also needs to make services available for women who are not giving birth by providing for free contraceptives and family planning (FP) services. If you want to address maternal health, you need a comprehensive package- including FP on the National Health Insurance scheme will help address Ghana’s high unmet need for contraceptives.”
Holo Hochanda
BroadReach Healthcare, Zambia
“If we strategically support the government through policy formulation, which will help to scale up reproductive health services and commodities. I think over time we can have bigger impact by supporting them to develop policies, strategies and creating guidelines, than we would if we were in the streets holding placards. That’s an important strategy as well, but maybe not for us to do.”
