Following threats by MPs to reject the 2013/14 National Budget if it did not carry a budget line for Family Planning Commodities, government has allocated K26 million for the commodities in the new budget.
But the Members of Parliament (MPs) have said the allocation is insufficient to address the 26 percent unmet needs on contraceptives.
The MPs are demanding the increase to the allocation, arguing that they are tired of directly providing social services in their constituencies because of high population growth.
While commending government’s creation of the new Family Planning Commodities budget line in the Ministry of Health budget vote, Public Appointments Committee chairperson Nick Masebo last week said the K26 million allocated to the budget line cannot make significant impact.
“The views of MPs are that funds allocated to the budget line are inadequate if Malawi is to achieve progress on family planning which is crucial to controlling the country’s population growth. Our vehicles already turned into ambulances. We are tired of paying school fees for children in our constituencies.
“We also want government to clearly name this budget line as Family Planning Commodities in the budget document and not medical supplies under reproductive health because the way it is, the funds could be subjected to other uses other than the intended purpose,” said Masebo.
Parliamentary Health and Population Committee chairperson Paul Chibingu said MPs who attended the Southern and Eastern Africa Parliamentary Alliance of Committees on Health (Seapacoh) meeting in Uganda last year made a commitment to ensure that Malawi creates an allocation for family planning products and that at least 15 percent of the National Budget goes to the health sector.
“It is clear from the small allocation that has been made that we will continue to transport patients to and from hospitals, including dead bodies. Sometimes, it is actually district health officers [DHOs] who call us to provide transport, saying they were not given enough resources,” said Chibingu.
He said they will explore possibilities of increasing the family planning allocation in the House because the budget is already on the floor in Parliament.
The MPs have been advocating Family Planning National Budget line and increased allocation to the health sector under the USaid-funded Health Policy Project (HPP) in partnership with Partners in Population and Development Africa Regional Office (PPD-ARO), according to Futures Group country director Olive Mtema.
Ministry of Health director of reproductive health Fannie Kachale said the K26 million allocation to family planning is less than one percent of the overall health budget. She said they would require $23 million (about K8 billion) to successfully implement the planned family planning activities across the country.
“Family planning is not cheap. Of course, all hope is not lost because the majority of our activities are funded by donors,” said Kachali.
Ministry of Health Principal Secretary Dr. Charles Mwansambo also said family planning programmes are crucial to ease pressure on the country’s limited resources resulting from high population growth.
“HIV and Aids and family planning are not just health problems, but developmental problems. We have a lot of orphans and vulnerable children, and our schools are overstretched because of the high number of pupils and students enrolling in schools,” said Mwansambo. n
