By Alice Lubwama
Representatives of faith based organizations in Uganda including Protestant, Muslim, catholic, Adventist and born again faith have further committed to lobby for more allocation of funds for family planning services also pledge to sensitize their congregation on manageable families for the nation to have a health population.
During a meeting to review Uganda’s progress on the 2020 national target to implement family planning programs to reach women, men, youth, and communities with voluntary high-quality services and information to meet their needs , the religious leaders agreed to lobby government and development partners to provide more funds in order to have orderly families.
The bishop of Mityana diocese Right Reverend Stephen Kazimba Mugalu also a family champion amongst religious leaders say he was grateful to see churches and other religious leaders realizing their mandate to save lives.
Bishop Kazimba has also asked fellow religious leaders to put family planning into right perspective by not misinterpreting the scripture in the bible of producing and filling the whole earth.
DR Betty kyadondo the director family health at the National population council says that the rate at which Uganda was progressing at increasing the modern contraceptive prevalence rate to 50% was good enough and she is optimistic that the country will met its targets.
Kyadodo however note that Uganda’s biggest challenge was reaching the adolescent girls to use family planning because they engage in sex and get pregnant frequently and also married off to men older than them and don’t support them to use family planning.
In 2012 Uganda’s prevalence rate Of use of modern contraceptive was at 28% but it has now increased to 36% .
The UN foundation through faith for family health NGO advocates for better health, has been supporting religious leaders to engage both the local and central government to allocation more funds for family planning services.
The advocacy has seen 8 districts I. Uganda also Ting a portion of their health budge to family planning services. The districts include Namayingo, Mubende, Busia, iganga,kyejnjojo, Kagadi,Kabarole,and Mityana.