CHAPEL HILL, N.C., June 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Preliminary data from a new national survey show a dramatic rise in use of modern contraception among married women in Rwanda, Africa's most densely populated country, from 10% in 2005 to 27% in 2008.
The data are included in a new report -- Family Planning in Rwanda: How a Taboo Topic Became Priority Number One -- published by IntraHealth International, which has collaborated with the Rwandan government and local NGOs since the late 1980s to improve family planning services, among other public health-related work.
"Strong government leadership, better access to a range of contraceptive methods and health workers who are well-trained have contributed to this impressive increase in contraceptive use," says Pape Gaye, IntraHealth's President and CEO. "We are proud to be among the development partners working hand-in-hand with the Ministry of Health, the Government of Rwanda and the health workforce to make family planning and other health services accessible to the most vulnerable communities."
The preliminary data, from a forthcoming MEASURE Demographic and Health Survey, were released by Rwanda's National Institute of Statistics on May 30. In addition to the gain in modern contraceptive use, the data show a decrease in Rwanda's fertility rate to an average of 5.5 children per woman, down from 6.1. Mortality rates have declined 28% for infants and 32% for children-under-five since 2005.
IntraHealth's Family Planning in Rwanda report, written by Julie Solo
and funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, notes "the
tremendous social and cultural barriers" that family planning advocates
have faced, including recovery from the 1994 genocide, a pronatalist
culture and religious opposition to family planning. "But in this context,"
states the report, "President [Paul] Kagame has declared family planning a
national priority." The government sees family planning as essential to
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