Officials target reduction in unwanted pregnancies

HEALTH officials from the nation’s south met in Borikhamxay province recently to discuss methods of providing more information about family planning to Lao youth to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies.

Lack of access to healthcare and information has a direct impact not only on women’s health but also on their education, employment and economic prospects.

Although the situation has been improving, some vulnerable groups such as rural women in remote communities and adolescent girls still lack the reproductive rights that would allow them to gain control of their lives, a health official said.

Speaking at the Advocacy Meeting on Family Planning, Health Ministry’s Department of Hygiene and Health Promotion director-general Dr Phonepaseuth Ounaphom said the national family planning programme aims to promote a reproductive health information service for young people, with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Health Ministry.

Among the first events convened post-lockdown, the workshops highlighted the government’s commitment to sexual reproductive health and rights and to family planning as a key health programme directly contributing to reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies, maternal mortality and poverty reduction.

“The government aims to ensure family planning is for everyone, not only for couples but for all people regardless of their sex, social or economic status,” he said.

With 75% of girls aged 15-19 having no access to family planning, the adolescent birth rate in Laos remains the highest in Asean, with one in 10 girls aged 15-19 already beginning childbearing.