Members of Parliament Call for More Integrated work, May 18, 2012
A Sensitization workshop on Population and Reproductive Health was provided for 400 Members of Parliament (MPs ) on May 18, 2012 at the House of Federation hall. The workshop basically focused on updating Mps and Implementers to discuss on the current Population, RH and Environment issues of the country.
The MoFED in collaboration with MoH, FGAE, CORHA, UNFPA and other NGOs organized the workshop after twenty members of the parliament from the Federal House of Peoples Representatives paid a 5 day visit to government and non government health facilities in Amhara ,Oromya, Somali and SNNPR regions. The visit focused on Family Planning, Adolescent Reproductive health and environmental protection work done by the regions and the visited woredas.
Presenting the field visit report her Excellency Alemtshay Pawlos said MPs appreciated the beginning efforts to establish a population council by Amhara and Somali regions, Amhara regional work on strengthening data collecting on population issues and SNNPR’s effort of establishing population council under the regional administrative bureau.
Regarding family planning services the report appreciated the Family Guidance Association of Harar regional Office joint work with the administrative regions support to the association’s youth counseling hot line services to aware the youths about the reproductive health matters.
The report also confirmed that coordinated activities done between and among JiJga area office of the Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia, Karamra hospital and JiJiga university to serve the community and university students towards sexual and reproductive health sounds good.
In line with this, parliamentarians observed problems such as less use of long term contraceptive methods by the community for there they thought that it affects their health, their religion does not allow them to take it and the thought of having more children as asset for the family .Moreover skills on long term training also have an impact to the use of long term contraceptive methods.
On the occasion expertise from MoFED and MoH presented a paper on Family planning in Ethiopia, Securing and Sustaining Resources for Family planning Services, Population and Development in Ethiopia population affairs in micro sector.
