Contraceptive shortage makes family planning difficult in Venezuela

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) representative in Venezuela, Jorge González Caro, said in an exclusive interview with Efe that the lack of contraceptives in the South American country makes family planning difficult.

"There is a worldwide shortage of contraceptive supplies (materials) in health centers (…) and those that are available in pharmacies are very expensive to be popular, universal access", explains the mathematician. as part of World Population Day, 11 July.

He pointed out that 50 years ago the United Nations considered family planning a human right and that progress had been made since then in promoting and protecting this right. . which, he says, translates into more development and less poverty for countries.

In Venezuela, he said, it is "very positive that family planning has been incorporated into the national constitution," a section that gives couples the right "to freely and voluntarily decide the number and the number of children. spacing of their children. "

However, the Magna Carta also states that the state "will guarantee access to scientific means that guarantee the exercise of the right", which is currently being done because lack of contraceptive methods

González said that he was working with the Ministry of Health to resume the contraceptive purchasing system He recalled that through the UNFPA, the Nicolás Maduro's executive made his last "very important" purchase in 2015, which was enough to "satisfy all demands" but, he stressed, "stocks have fallen" and today there are few public hospitals that have contraceptive materials.

The mathematician believes that family planning "is culturally accepted" in the oil-producing country, whose fertility rate has declined over the past 50 years. last years from 8 children per woman to 2.3 children s currently, very close to the minimum average of 2.1 which aims to protect generational replacement.

The contrast in Venezuela, he said, is much greater because the fertility rate of adolescent girls between the ages of 15 and 19 has remained almost constant over the past half-century at around 100 cases per 1,000 young people , well above the rest Venezuelans "have fewer and fewer children, but they have them very early," he said, adding that to solve this problem, the state must promote comprehensive education in baduality from childhood, as well as ongoing education and training campaigns for citizens.

González believes that Venezuelans "know how to plan their pregnancies but need support" from the institutions to accomplish this task. On the other hand, stressed that maternal mortality is "what worries" the United Nations Fund that has "supported the design of protocols for the management of emergency obstetric care" in the country, who is going through a deep crisis The health sector is not immune.

"We started to promote workshops in the Ministry's priority health centers" to treat "postpartum obstetric haemorrhage", which is the "leading cause of maternal mortality in Venezuela" Gonzalez said the problem of maternal mortality rate "is not low" in Venezuela, which has signed a commitment to reduce it by 75% and, he added, "we know that there has been some upturn ".

Finally, he expressed the opinion that the social programs set up by Chavez to promote "humanized childbirth" and protect pregnant women and the poorest mothers, who receive monthly benefits, could "We have no evidence that these programs that the government sponsors have generated a rebound in the birth rate," he said, adding that in one case, recipients are required to undergo a health check.

The next census will know more about this.