There is the need to invest in modern family planning service, to prevent 1,400,000 unintended pregnancies, 2,500 maternal deaths and 450,000 unsafe abortions, a report cautions.
It said the return on investment for every dollar spent on unintended pregnancies, maternal deaths and unsafe abortions, ranged between US$2.6 and US$6.9.
The report was presented by Dr Jacob Novignon and a team from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, at a stakeholder validation meeting by the UNFPA, on the theme: “Business vase for investment in family planning, maternal health, child marriage and gender-based violence”, in Accra.
He also said investing in Gender-Based Violence (GBV) interventions, would lead to a fall in the rate of the practice from 33 per cent in 2024 to 27.1 per cent, and 25.8 per cent to 24.5 per cent by 2030.
The total cost of GBV interventions by 2030, Dr Novignon said was estimated to be between $1,417.64 million and $1,958.61 million.
On child marriage, he said supply of school materials, improving school infrastructure, financial support for poor students among others could help reduce the practice significantly.
A scale up of interventions for child marriage in Ghana, Dr Novignon said could lead to averting between 114,000 and 146,000 cases of the practice from 2024 to 2030.
The total investment required to address child marriage in the country is between $103.53 million and $142.45 million, he stated.
Dr Emmily Naphambo, the UNFPA Country Deputy Representative, said there was the need for sustainable investments in sexual and reproductive health of women and girls.
She said this would also help to improve family planning and maternal health, reduce GBV and eliminate child marriage.
“We live in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world which calls for different ways of doing things, not ‘business as usual’ way for sustainability,” she said.
Ghana’s graduation from low-income to lower middle-income, she said contributed to shifts in development assistance for health.
Dr Naphambo said development partners like UNFPA, under the Supplies/Family Planning Partnership Programme, had moved away from annual budget ceilings for governments, to mandatory co-financing arrangements; similar to Global Fund and GAVI requirements of governments to co-finance health programmes.
The Deputy Country Representative called for a renewed mind-set to reduce Ghana’s dependence on foreign assistance.
She also called on stakeholders to present compelling evidence on returns on investments that attracted governments, private sector and non-traditional partners to invest in areas originally supported largely by donors. –
—GNA
