Repent Khamis George, the President of South Sudan Nurses and Midwives Association, and Agnes Juan Silver, the Executive Director of the association speak on Eye Radio's Dawn Show. March 7, 2024. (Photo: Awan Moses).

South Sudan Nurses and Midwives Association is calling on families to adopt family planning to reduce the rate of death of expectant mothers and newborn children in the country.

Family planning is the choice of a couple in the number of children it wishes to have, including when to have the children and the age at which they wish to have them.

Marital situation, career or work consideration and financial situation are some of the factors that may play a role on family planning decisions.

Repent Khamis George, the President of South Sudan Nurses and Midwives Association, said family planning can help reduce child mortality rate.

“Family planning issues, there are a lot of misconception, a lot of cultural barriers, but we want to tell our public that when we talk of family planning, we are not telling people to stop giving birth,” Repent said.

“We are only telling people that space between the birth, you can have ten children, but make sure that there is space between this birth, because it is very important.”

Family planning allows spacing of pregnancies and can delay pregnancies in young women at increased risk of health problems and death from early childbearing. It also enables women who wish to limit the size of their families to do so.

It also allows people to decide when and if to have children, using the information, means and methods they need to do so.

“When you space interval between the birth it gives the mother chance of a health to regain and also to deliver a healthy baby. So, this misconception is wrong, we need to tell our public that family planning is not telling people to stop [giving birth],” he added.

“Indeed, with family planning the population grows, that is what we really need to inform our public because they will have healthy children.”

“They will have children when they want and they will be able to take care of those children, and they will reduction in neonatal death, they will be reduction in child mortality rate.”

On her part, Agnes Juan Silver, the Executive Director of South Sudan Nurses and Midwives Association said family planning can help families produce healthy children.

She added that family planning can help reduce the rate of retarded children in the country.

“Family planning is basically plan for your family and then you are likely to have quality children, when we have quality children, we will have quality people and, in this case, we are talking of South Sudanese.”

“You will have people who can take the nation ahead, take the nation to the next level, not bringing children who are mentally retarded or with so many abnormalities, because of the same.”

“And then we have the highest maternal mortality rate in the world, it is because of this, because you see a mother in one year or in two years has already two children. So, the uterus is not resting, you see that mothers are dying, why are they dying.”

According to the United Nations Population Fund – UNFPA, access to safe, and voluntary family planning is a human right and it is central to gender equality, women’s empowerment, and reducing poverty.

It says lack of access to family planning leads to unwanted pregnancies and abortions and threatens families’ ability to build a better future for themselves and their communities.