World Contraception Day celebrated in Pakistan

MN Report

KARACHI - Bayer HealthCare Pakistan celebrated 'World Contraception Day' by organizing a series of health awareness symposiums to raise awareness about contraception amongst married couples in Pakistan.

The objective of these symposiums was aimed at improving the level of awareness among general public and health care professionals about various kinds of contraceptive methods and facilitating open discussions. Country's leading consultant obstetricians and gynecologists were invited as keynote speakers at the symposiums by Bayer HealthCare Pakistan to provide balanced information and tailored resources for the purpose. They emphasized on the much needed education on various methods of contraception; yet we are still seeing so many people rely on emergency contraception and drastic measures such as abortion.

According to a press release, the contraceptive prevalence rate in Pakistan in 2012-13 was 35 per cent. Around 890,000 induced abortions took place in 2002 and 200,000 women were hospitalized for abortion complications in Pakistan. Every minute, eight children were born in Pakistan and of all live births one out of six was unwanted, it added.

Elaborating, the release said that of the 208 million pregnancies that occur worldwide each year, 41pc are unplanned. Of these, nearly half end in abortion. An estimated 33m unintended pregnancies each year may occur as a result of contraceptive failure or ineffective use. In 2014 an estimated 225m women, who wanted to plan their family, did not have access to an effective method of contraception.
This year’s message of `World Contraception Day’ for Pakistan is “It's Your Life, It is Your Future, Know your Options!”