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Home » Ultimate FM » Thu 02nd May, 2019 » DKT honours partner contraceptive and family planning clinics

DKT honours partner contraceptive and family planning clinics

Ultimate FM

Thu 02nd May, 2019 11:37

Not for profit organisation, DKT International has honoured its partner clinics and service providers, offering family planning and contraceptive health services to the public.

The family planning oriented body established in the year 1989 has played a key role supporting countries with high HIV/AIDs prevalence and Maternal Mortality Rates to battle the tide through responsible reproductive choices.

With its wide supply of safe and affordable family planning methods, DKT international has received international acclaim in 24 countries for scaling up Modern Contraceptive Prevalence rates and reducing unwanted pregnancies.

In the 2018 year under review, DKT posted gains preventing thirteen million pregnancies, averting thirty two million maternal deaths and saving ten million girls from unsafe abortions.

The organisation’s known brands of quality contraceptives and Family planning commodities are the Lydia range of contraceptives, the Kiss Condoms and Fiesta range of condoms.

DKT is further working with Lydia Partner Clinics and Lydia Service Centres fitted with a toll free line 1221 where the public can visit or call to access family planning services.

Speaking at the appreciation dinner held at the Golden Bean Hotel in Kumasi, the Ashanti regional Deputy Director of the Ghana Health Service in charge of clinical care, Dr Adomako Boateng, related to the difficulty that several persons have, walking to the pharmacy to purchase contraceptives.

“He recounted, “at the Suntreso Hospital, when we had a machine that dispensed condoms, the product run out every day. But if we have some sold around, it’s very challenging for people to buy. If we have such an institution promoting these contraceptives, we are going to partner to address this challenge because we know that prevention is better than cure,” he noted.

The country director DKT International Mr. Mario Floris emphasized that private interventions introduced by DKT, was needful as the contribution of public sector alone would not be enough to support Ghana achieve her global 2020 targets on family planning coverage especially among females.

“This is a country effort and we are happy to be working with all of you, for Ghana to achieve that goal which is in line with our mission to increase modern contraceptive prevalence rate and reducing maternal mortality and the need for unsafe abortions. It’s very important for us to partner with you to ensure that this is happening,” he observed.

Head of the Reproductive Health Unit and Gynaecologist Obstetrician at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Dr Kwadwo Sarbeng touched on the often tabooed subject of seeking safe and legal abortion services.

Dr Sarbeng indicated that the law provides for abortion when it is medically and psychologically proven that a woman cannot or would not choose to carry the fetus due to rape, incest or other health and mental conditions peculiar to the abortion seeker.

He however commended DKT for taking the bold step to demystify the use of contraceptives and family planning methods to prevent unwanted pregnancies, ultimately placing a safeguard against the dangers of seeking unsafe abortions.

Service providers at the various Lydia Partner Clinics and Lydia Service Centres were presented mobile phones, television sets and refrigerators and a promised package to give their reception units a facelift.

Programmes Manager for DKT international, Isaac Lamptey told Ultimate News, “it was important that we appreciated them not only for the work they are doing with DKT but the tremendous work they are doing for mother Ghana in terms of the efforts to reduce maternal mortality which is one of the country’s biggest challenges in the health sector.”

He told reporter Ivan Heathcote – Fumador, aside its conventional roles, DKT International is poised to work hardest in the areas of interventions to tackle head-on, the current HIV/AIDS prevalence rates and the alarming cases of Sexually Transmitted Infections through its Partner Clinics and community outreaches.