Cape boost for family planning

CLINICS run by the City of Cape Town facilitated more than 900 000 family planning and contraceptive appointments between April 2016 and March 2017.

The city revealed this ahead of a major global summit co-hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation‚ which has hailed contraceptives as one of the “greatest antipoverty innovations the world has ever known”.

Cape Town reported that the most popular contraception was the injection.

But the number of intra-uterine devices that were used was far too low, it said.

“An IUD provides family planning protection for up to five years‚ dispensing with unnecessary visits to the clinic‚” a statement read.

Mayoral committee member Anda Ntsodo said: “Family planning gives women control over their own lives and allows them to choose when they want to become pregnant. By empowering women in this way‚ we are strengthening the fabric of society and‚ in turn‚ our communities.”

Melinda Gates‚ co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation‚ spoke about the benefits of contraception ahead of the 2017 Family Planning Summit‚ which started in the UK yesterday.

The foundation is one of the cohosts of the summit along with the UK government and the United Nations Population Fund.

She said family planning was one of the smartest investments countries can make.

The summit coincides with World Population Day‚ which has been observed on July 11 since 1989. — TMG