Introducing contraceptives to the world for women was life-changing as it enables them to decide when and how often to become pregnant, said Ingrid Wetterqvist, Swedish Ambassador to Liberia.
Speaking recently in Monrovia at ceremonies marking the observance of the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the diplomat indicated that the coming into effect of contraceptives has helped women to exist outside of the domestic sphere on how they
could finally control and manage their fertility.
Notwithstanding, she noted, there are still 214 million women who want to prevent pregnancy, but lack access to modern methods of contraception.
“Every day, more than 800 women die from preventable causes during pregnancy and childbirth, and much more must be done to tear down the barriers that prevent women, men and couples from fully exercising their reproductive rights. We cannot talk about contraceptives and reproductive health without discussing availability and access,” she said.
When reproductive health and family planning is recognized as universal right, then it is not enough to simply make reproductive services available, she told her audience which, included students,
many of whom were females.
Sexual reproductive health, she continued, is about more than the control of population growth “because it is about fundamental human rights and the endeavors of a world where every pregnancy is wanted and safe.”
There have been calls by international partners for national and local governments; civil society and the private sector efficiently cooperate in order to achieve rights and choices for all if the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals must be achieved.
TSS/abj/APA