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Andile Tshuma, Chronicle Reporter
THE Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council has urged women in Zimbabwe not to panic as it has enough contraceptives in stock.

This comes following panic by the public over drastic increases in prices of contraceptives at pharmacies countrywide.

ZNFPC Assistant Director for Marketing and Communication Mr Martin Mukaronda told journalists in Bulawayo on Monday that the organisation was well stocked.

“People must not panic. We have enough stocks for the foreseeable future and we urge the public not to get into panic mode,” said Mr Mukaronda.

He said the public must not be swayed by false reports of shortages in the country mostly caused by people who want to cash in on the situation.

Dr Nonhlanhla Zwangobani, the ZNFPC Director of Technical Services, said ZNFPC was receiving government support in procurement of drugs and other consumables. “We are fortunate enough to be receiving support from government and our partners. We are procuring stock without much difficulty, so for the foreseeable future, I can confirm that our stocks can and will sustain us,” said Dr Zwangobani.

She said ZNFPC had no power to intervene in the current pricing irregularities at pharmacies that privately sourced their drugs.

“Health centres that are benefiting from the public procurement of drugs have no reason to charge exorbitant prices as the procurement regime has not changed.

“However, those that are privately sourcing the contraceptives for resale, there is nothing much we can do about that. It is not fair for drugs procured with government funding and support to be sold at exorbitant prices to the public,” said Dr Zwangobani.

The price hike madness on contraceptives is posing a major challenge to women across the country as they already have unmet contraceptive needs, particularly those residing in rural areas.

The unmet needs for contraceptives among married women aged 15-49 years in WHO’s Africa Region is estimated at 24 percent and lags considerably behind the rest of the world, according to the Atlas of African health statistics 2016.

However, Zimbabwe remains one of the top countries to scale up health services in Africa. Critics believe high literacy rates in Zimbabwe should reflect a knowledgeable and progressive society that is able to make healthy choices.

According to the 2015 Zimbabwe Demographic Health Survey — the country exceeds the global average on contraceptive prevalence in sub Saharan Africa with 67 percent of married women aged 15 to 49 years having access to contraceptives.

Zimbabwe’s family planning strategy is to increase the contraceptive prevalence rate from 59 percent to 68 percent by 2020, and in the process reduce teenage pregnancies from 24 percent to 12 percent by 2020. — @andile_tshuma