The government must ensure in Samoa that people have unfettered access to contraceptives as this is one of their intrinsic rights.
That’s the opinion of the Representative and Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Pacific Sub-Regional Office, Dr. Laurent Zessler.
During an exclusive interview with the Weekend Observer in Apia this week, he said it is one of his organisation’s goals to ensure that contraceptives are available to women everywhere.
“What I would like to emphasise, and please understand us, is that it is a right for a woman to have access to contraceptives,” he said.
“It is an intrinsic right that she, that a woman can decide when she wants to be pregnant and to be able to decide that with her partner or husband.
“For their maternal rights the state has a responsibility to ensure that this right is secure.”
Dr. Zessler made these comments in relation to one of the core issues the UNFPA was addressing at present – Reproductive Health Commodity Security (RHCS).
According to the Fund’s website, Global Program for RHCS is a agenda launched by the UNFPA in 2007 to address the urgent and ongoing need for a reliable supply of contraceptives, condoms, medicines and equipment.
“The Global Programme is already yielding measurable results through a framework for assisting countries in planning for their own needs, with a focus on commodities as well as capacity development to strengthen health systems,” the UNFPA reads.
“In 2010, funding for the Global Program for RHCS reached nearly $100 million.” Dr. Zessler said this is incredibly important for women in the Pacific. “What we are saying and are promoting is that women in the Pacific should be pregnant by choice not by chance,” he said.
“Commodities should be available throughout the Pacific Island Countries for women to decide when they want to be pregnant, for the couple to decide when they want to have a child.
“That the chance factor is not what happens.”
He said this is why the UNFPA has to ensure there are enough contraceptives available for the population. “(That) they are distributed adequately through the health system – through the public system and through the private system as well,” he said.
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“So under RHCS we want to make sure that the proper number, the proper quantity, the proper stocks are present in the country to answer to the need of the women.
“So this is why we use the word security, we want to make sure that all of them are present in the country.”
In regards to supplying the contraceptives to the countries, Dr. Zessler said his fund has the unique advantage of having a central purchasing system based in Copenhagen, Denmark.
“So we contact all the manufacturers, the pharmaceutical companies and we negotiate the price,” he said.
“We have the lowest price according to an established list of contraceptives that are safe and authorised according to the World Health Organisation, we purchase them (as a) bulk purchase in a very large quantity.
“After that we deliver them to the countries that we are working with.
“The advantage of the central purchasing is to have the better price, safe products and quality control.
“Of course countries can venture in buying on their own from the international market, but it is not as safe as we think our system is.”
He said the UNFPA’s distribution of contraceptives to the participating nations was free.
“It is part of our financial support and financial contribution yes,” he said. “It is free of charge, yes.
“And this is a very important aspect for women in Pacific Island Countries to have the access to good quality products that are secure and answer to their need.”
Samoa is one of the participating nations of the GPRHCS, and Dr Zessler said this was one of the reasons for his visit.
“What I came to see and to verify and to make sure that the Ministry of Health give us on a routine basis is the quantities (of contraceptives) that you have and the monthly usage so that we can adequately reorder the next batch,” he said. “It is a technical issue but it is associated with political will, because we need to receive the update in the order to have the proper quantity available in the country.
“What we don’t want is a shortage that is what we fear – that is why we are working very hard on that.” Dr. Zessler said that another goal of the UNFPA is to inform women, the health services and the communities at large that if a woman can select and choose the moment she wants to become pregnant, when the couple wants to become pregnant, this is a better approach than an approach, which is based on chance.
“So basically we work with different communities, the official sector and we also work with some religious groups and churches,” he said.
“But as you know access to contraception is sometimes an issue for certain groups.
“Now of course that there is religious beliefs that people have the right to consider but that is the decision of the couple, that is the decision of the individual that is what we feel.”
He said overall the UNFPA had seen a lot of positive development related to family planning globally in many countries.
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