3-year national family planning information campaign launched

AMMAN — The Ministry of Health, in partnership with USAID, on Monday launched the national family planning public information campaign to promote awareness and educate the public on family planning.

The campaign, which was launched under the slogan “Family is the Capital”, comes as part of the health partners and family planning project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Over three years, the campaign will involve four peripheral campaigns, with each campaign addressing a different topic related to family planning.

Minister of Health Firas Al Hawari, in his keynote address, said that “the campaign is part of a comprehensive strategy developed by the Ministry of Health to promote women’s and children‘s health”.

“This campaign seeks to motivate, inspire and enable people to change behaviour to improve their health and that of their families,” said USAID - Jordan Mission Director Leslie Reed, who also said that the campaign is focused on providing “accurate and actionable” health-related information.

Ghaith Oweis, who is the director of the health information and awareness directorate, provided an overview of the campaign, stressing that the most recent national studies have shown that “there is a decline in the use of family planning methods.”

According to Oweis, 38 per cent of women of childbearing age in Jordan use modern family planning methods, while 14 per cent use traditional family planning. 

“Forty-eight per cent of women of reproductive age in Jordan do not use any family planning method,” he added.