KIGALI, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Rwandan government aims to increase contraceptive prevalence to at least 60 percent by 2024, Rwandan Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente said here on Monday.
The government has put in place different strategies to achieve this target, including increasing the budget allocation to the health sector, which stands at 16 percent currently, Ngirente said at the opening of the 5th edition of the International Conference on Family Planning.
Rwanda has provided long-acting contraceptives through an operational network of 58,286 community health workers at all village levels, and has established the community based health insurance across the country, which benefits 90 percent of the total population, he said.
The use of modern contraceptive methods in the central African country increased from 10 percent in 2005 to 48 percent in 2015, while the its fertility rate dropped from 5.8 percent in 2000 to 4.2 percent in 2015, statistics from Ministry of Health of Rwanda show.
"We all converge to the fact that quality family planning services are strong means of improving the lives of women, children and families," said the prime minister.
He also said a number of studies have indicated that family planning programs have positive consequences on economic development, adding that there is a strong support that family planning is one of the most cost-effective ways of enhancing the well-being of the people in all countries.
The four-day conference, co-hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health and Ministry of Health of Rwanda, brings together more than 3,700 delegates including health experts, government officials, UN officials, philanthropists, youth, representatives from civil society organizations and media, among others, from around the globe.
