Family Planning: A Ghanaian Perspective

Over the past few years, the birth rate in Ghana has increased drastically even with the current economic situation. Everyday, maternity wards are filled up with women to be put to birth, both young and old. But then, the sad part of all this is that there are so many women out there in Ghana with so many kids than they can’t cater for.

Anytime you walk on a main road in Ghana, you’re likely to come across kids begging on the streets. I mostly ask myself where the mothers of these kids are, because watching little kids being subjected to this kind of torture is just sad and heartbreaking. In recent years, Ghanaians have grown to come to terms with the whole concept of family planning and birth control. If I remember right, around the year 2018 , there was a mass education program that was started to educate the general public on the importance of family planning and birth control.

Those days, you’d watch so many advertisements on your television and hear them talk about it on radio stations and many more channels. This was also an opportunity for companies in the family planning and birth control sector to make huge profits while everything was going on. That was the time I also go to learn about contraceptives and family planning. I was young then but it still served a good purpose for me as I got to learn more ahead of time.

Today, family planning and birth control is highly accepted across Ghana and most families are making good use of it. However, we always have those people who either have no knowledge on this or have the knowledge but refuse to look in that direction due to religion and other traditional beliefs. I’ve had people tell me that they would never consider birth control yet they keep giving birth almost every one to two years with no means to take care of their offsprings.

Others also believe that birth control is a sin , especially when it has to do with taking in contraceptives. But then, we have small children between the ages of 15 to 18 aborting pregnancies almost all the time with no proper medical treatment. These kids have been so brainwashed to the extent that even though they are unable to abstain, they wouldn’t also consider others options to prevent pregnancy. I believe one main factor that has caused this is the fact that people talk a lot and always tend to point fingers at others. But then, aborting a pregnancy the wrong way can eventually lead to the death of the individual.

Looking at the impact of family planning and birth control on our country as a whole, I think Ghanaians should really take time to consider it as the population keeps increasing with little to no infrastructure. The country is getting choked, no food to eat, no jobs and no money. Yet, we keep giving birth every blessed day forgetting how we are going to be able to sustain ourselves and these kids in the years to come.

In this regard, I believe that it would be really great if the government and everyone join hands in creating awareness on the importance and the lasting impact of family planning and birth control on our families , communities and the nation as a whole. It isn’t a one day thing because I know that being who we are, it’s probably going to take years for us to finally come to terms with this. But as they say, the earlier the better.

---

---

This is my entry to the #augustinleo prompt day 6. Read more about it here- August INLEO writing prompt.

---

all images belong to me.

---