Ghana’s Family Planning Program: A Neglected Policy Initiative?

Abstract: Ghana’s Family Planning Program (FPP), maternal mortality intervention, and HIV/AIDS control program are all health policy priorities, which are supposed to be complementary to achieve desirable reproductive health outcomes. However, it appears disproportionately less attention is being paid to the former compared to the latter two, which are relatively new health policies. This may have implications not only for the effectiveness of the FPP and the other two policies, but more broadly reproductive health outcomes. This study investigates this claim and finds that the FPP has policy merits and that its relegation to the background has led to a marginally little incentive to space births, and a marginally positive incentive to increase fecund level, with attendant negative developmental consequences. It then concludes that despite the alarming rate of maternal mortality and loss of lives through HIV/AIDS, Ghana’s population is still growing at a dangerous pace, making the FPP as relevant as ever.

Keywords: Family Planning Program (FPP); Optimum population size; Development; Maternal health; Free Medical Care for Pregnant Women (FMCPW); Policy synergy.