TO
KAYORO
Bringing Reproductive Health to a Village in Ghana
MARGARET CATLEY-CARLSON
POPULATION COUNCIL
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FROM TO KAYORO Bringing Reproductive Health to a Village in Ghana
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| Women choose
contraception Change slowly is coming to Kayoro. Over a 15-month period, despite the fact that a woman’s decision to use family planning services could be met with violence and social opprobrium, the number of contraceptive users climbed several-fold to about 20 percent of married women of reproductive age. Depo-Provera has been the method of choice by most, with health records kept by the community health nurse so that husbands will not find them. However, when a husband discovers that his wife has been using such a method, it is not uncommon for the nurse to be confronted with the wrath of his disapproval. Why have some women opted for contraception in spite of the risks? The answers are complex and not fully known. But research in the Navrongo Centre area indicates that one reason some women choose contraception is as a substitute for the traditional means of fertility regulation—long postpartum coital taboos and spousal separation. Undoubtedly, the innovative design of the family planning services has played an important role. Women prefer the injectable contraceptive because it is so convenient, delivered right to their doorstep along with other crucial health services. The project also has paid extraordinary attention to integrating information and service-delivery work into traditional systems for village communication and governance. Family planning services appear to have been legitimized in the eyes of men and male leaders because the program actively sought their participation.
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