Professor Fred Sai, Presidential Advisor on HIV/AIDS, Population Issues and Reproductive on Friday called for intensified advocacy on the use family planning for effective national development. He said family planning was one of the tools of development that had often been misunderstood for political, religion and other reasons and there was the need for people to change that mindset and attitude. Chairing the launch of a document titled; "Roadmap for Repositioning Family Planning in Ghana 2006-2010" in Accra, Prof. Sai noted that there was the need for people to regulate their birth for the well development of the mother and child. "We cannot improve health, offer quality education and ensure the well advancement of the nation without regulating and controlling our birth". The launch was also to mark the celebration of the World Population Day on the theme "Repositioning Family Planning is a Must for national Development: Let's Make it Real" and had a global theme; "It is a Right, Let's Make it Real". Prof. Sai explained that family planning was a fundamental component of reproductive health and ensuring basic access to family planning could reduce maternal deaths by a third and child deaths by as much as 20 percent. He said studies had shown that family planning had immediate benefits for the lives and health of mothers and their infants. He expressed regret that the benefits of family planning were not reaching many people and called on al stakeholders to intensify their campaign and make accessible the services to all especially the marginalized and the poor in society. Major Courage Quashigah (Rtd) who launched the document emphasized the need to pay more attention on the youth who seemed to have been left out when it came to family planning. He noted that people have the right make their own reproductive choices and the necessary information should be given to them to enable them make their won choice, "and by so doing, we will not only be ensuring the health of the mother and the baby but be controlling the spread of diseases as well". The Health Minister called for the need for the health sector to link up with other stakeholders including the church to ensure a more effective use and acceptance of family planning. Dr. Gloria Quansah Asare, Acting Director of Family Health Division of Ghana Health Service, presenting "A Roadmap for Repositioning Family Planning in Ghana 2006-2010," said efforts at promoting family planning in Ghana dated back to the 1960s with the knowledge of all women aged 15 to 49 years on family planning at 98 percent with 99 percent of men aged 15 to 59 years knowing at least one modern method. She said the number of women of reproductive age using modern methods of family planning had risen steadily to 19 percent and had the aim of raising it to 28 per cent by 2010 and reduce the unmet needs from 34 per cent to 20 percent. She noted that Ghana needed to take urgent steps to implement a comprehensive strategy with quantifiable goals and targets as well as monitoring and evaluation plan that addressed the identifiable gaps and challenges. In a speech read for her, Mrs Virginia Ofosu Amaah, Chairperson of the National Population Council said there was the need to extend coverage and improve quality of service of family planning. Mr Daouda Troure, United Nations Resident Coordinator called on government to honour the commitment made at the International Conference on Population and Development at Cairo in 1994 where nations agreed that individuals have the basic human right to not only decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children but also to have the information, education and means to do so. Mr Michael Tagoe of the Young and Wise Centre called for more repeated dissemination of messages to the youth and the need to give them self-efficacy and appropriate skills to ensure safe family planning practices among them. Source: GNA