Wider range of contraception needed

The Caribbean Family Planning Affiliation wants to see a wider range of contraception available in the region, and as such, made it a talking point at a meeting it held last week with family planning associations across the region, which was held in Barbados.

That is according to Adler Bynoe, Chief Executive Officer of the Caribbean Family Planning Affiliation.

He made the remarks during a recent interview with The Grenada Advocate, revealing that there was a commodities meeting with representatives of the individual family planning associations, aimed at addressing how to beef up supplies of contraceptives to ensure they meet the needs of the public in the most sustainable manner.

He said that meeting brought together the network of family planning association across the English, Dutch and French-speaking Caribbean, and two days were set aside to discuss the commodities concerns.

“When it comes to commodities, I think it varies from territory to territory, so it is not standardised; there are various challenges depending on which territory you are in. But in some territories there is an issue where the governments have these wide networks of government health clinics but they are not able to provide a range of contraceptive options, and so, the associations are trying to offer those options.

“In some respects, we are limited ourselves in terms of the range we are able to get access to, and we want to see how best we can deal with that,” he said.

Competitive position

Another challenge, he said, is that in some countries the governments are able to meet the demands, and this sometimes puts the association in a bit of a competitive position. However, he made it clear that the associations were not looking to compete with the state-owned health entities, but to provide services that are complementary.

His comments came as he contended that the associations, while providing access to contraceptives for the public, are not solely focused on family planning, but also on ensuring that persons maintain optimum sexual and reproductive health. (JRT)ࠦ