Experts worried political commitment, health services delivery still lacking despite efforts to improve family planning in Uganda

"Family planning advocates in Uganda have scored some major financial and policy wins this year, but experts remain concerned that inadequate political commitment and poor health services will continue to impede women's and girls' access to contraceptives," IRIN reports. With one of the fastest growing populations in the world, Uganda's "President Yoweri Museveni announced that his government would increase its annual expenditure on family planning supplies from $3.3 million to $5 million for the next five years" and he "pledged to mobilize an additional $5 million from the country's donors," the news service writes. In addition, the "Ministry of Health has laid out a roadmap for providing universal access to family planning, involving the integration of family planning into other health services," the news service notes.

"Experts have welcomed the new funding and the government's apparent enthusiasm, but say the promises must be met with real changes, at both the political and the health facility level," IRIN states, adding, "According to government officials, the uptake of family planning services is increasing, albeit slowly." The article includes quotes from members of government and non-governmental organizations (10/2).