Zimbabweans need contraceptives

contraceptives
Yoliswa Dube

THE use of contraceptives is important and necessary in curbing the HIV/Aids pandemic and preventing unwanted pregnancies, members of the public and gender activists have said. This follows recent remarks by Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede who urged government to ban contraceptives which he claims have negative side-effects on women’s health.

Mudede said he had consulted medical experts who revealed that the use of contraceptives had harmful side-effects.
“These drugs should be banned in the country as they’re also being rejected in other countries. They’re killing productive women and this is also affecting our population,” he said.

In May, Mudede shocked all and sundry when he said people should stop using contraceptives religiously arguing that birth control was a ploy by powerful nations to retard population growth in Africa by this means, weakening the nations.

Said Mudede: “Where are you going to get soldiers should there be an aggression? We want police officers, workers, nurses. If you’re to ask young people today how many children they have you would hear them responding proudly, ‘just two’. . . You want to be a super power, but you don’t want to multiply.. Pasi nedepo provera. Pasi nenorplant (Down with depo provera. Down with norplant).”

He said contraceptives were conduits for diseases such as cancer, especially in women and questioned how society could thrive when it was limiting its growth.

Mudede’s call has riled many Zimbabweans who believe contraceptives have played a critical role in the control of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and prevention of unwanted pregnancies among sexually active youths.

“It’s a misguided concept which I don’t think was well thought out. Contraceptives are there so that people don’t contract STIs or HIV. They’re available so that people don’t have children they can’t afford.

“We wouldn’t expect to hear such things from a man of his stature. Those are utterances that would be expected from someone who is not educated or exposed to information. He should have known better, considering he is well-versed about population issues as the Registrar- General.

“Instead, he should be encouraging people to use contraceptives. This is a broad issue because we’re also talking about people of school going age engaging in sexual activities. They too need to be considered,” said Walter Dube, a Bulawayo resident.

Contraception is the use of various devices, drugs, agents, sexual practices, or surgical procedures to prevent pregnancy.
It helps women plan if and when they want to have a baby. The condom is the only current contraception device that helps protect sexual partners from STIs.

Birth control involves one or more actions, devices, sexual practices or medications followed to intentionally prevent or reduce the likelihood of pregnancy or childbirth.

Methods of contraception include abstinence, withdrawal, male and female condoms, the pill, injections such as depo provera, the diaphragm and vasectomies among others.

A Bulawayo woman, Sifanelo Ndlovu, said contraceptives had come in handy for a lot of people and now was not the time for people to stop using them.

“I don’t think l’d be at peace knowing that I could get pregnant at anytime. I can’t afford having a baby year in and year out and that’s what it would mean if I were to stop using contraceptives,” she said.

Ndlovu said control was necessary in order for one to be able to plan for the future and adequately provide for the children they already have.

“Our economy is not the best in the world so these are some of the things we need to consider seriously. The most important thing one should ask themselves is whether or not they would be able to take care of a baby before they have one because babies cost a lot of money and it’s a responsibility one will have for the rest of their life,” she said.

Padare Gender and HIV programmes officer Nakai Nengomasha said dealing with the issue of contraceptives required a holistic approach.
“Married couples are not the only ones having sex. The truth is young people are having sex too, no one is really safe and most don’t go for HIV testing so they need condoms. We’re not encouraging pre-marital sex but these young people must be safe.

“We should be encouraging contraceptives to avoid teenage pregnancies, which also result in maternal mortality. Zimbabwe has the highest maternal mortality rate in Africa with 925 deaths per 100,000 pregnant women and most of these women dying are young,” he said.

Nengomasha said comprehensive sexuality education was necessary and people should not just think it’s a trick by whites trying to reduce the country’s population.

“Young people must be given information so that they can make informed decisions rather than have mature people making decisions on their behalf. Even in a marriage set up, people must plan. A significant number of people are living under the poverty datum line, if we say people should reproduce haphazardly, how will they survive – it doesn’t work,” he said.

Nengomasha added: “An overwhelming number of children in Zimbabwe are on Beam (Basic Education Assistance Module), which shows a lot of instability in many families. We’ll have chaos if we have children we can’t afford. At the end of the day we’ll have an uneducated nation because people can’t afford to take their many children to school.”

Minister of Health and Child Care Dr David Parirenyatwa said the ministry advocated for contraceptive use as a means of fighting HIV and Aids, STIs and unwanted pregnancies.

Dr Parirenyatwa said the HIV and Aids prevalence rate in the country had decreased drastically from about 29 percent to 13 percent as a result of condom use.

“We advocate for condom and contraceptive use to our people. If one fails to abstain, to be faithful to one partner, he or she should use a condom correctly and continuously.

“Condoms have been the biggest factor in the successes we have had in the country in terms of family planning, avoidance of unwanted pregnancies and reduction of new HIV infections. So as a ministry we call on people to continue using them where necessary,” he said.
Experts say existing evidence shows that the availability and use of contraception has had a profound and positive impact on the lives of women and families, including both health benefits and a range of socio-economic improvements.

In documenting the important role of family planning, research has emphasised the links between contraceptive use and later ages at marriage, smaller families, longer birth intervals, and the ability of women and couples to plan when and how many children to bear.
These outcomes are in turn linked to improvements in infant, child, and maternal health, as well as to improved social and economic roles for women.

China (not European, not American, not white, not African) implemented the “one child policy” as a result of its economy failing to sustain the population.

The policy was introduced in 1979 to alleviate social, economic, and environmental problems in the Asian nation.
Despite the majority of evidence-based research demonstrating the critical value of contraception, attacks on contraception itself have become increasingly common.

Some, till this day, do not believe in contraception including the Doma people of Kanyemba, the San of Plumtree and various apostolic sects, particularly Johanne Marange.

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