Integrated project plan for the Gambia.

ABSTRACT

PIP According to the provisional 1983 census report of the Central Statistics Department, the population of the Gambia was 687,817 in 1983 with 342,134 males and 345,683 females, the 1st time in the country's census history that females outnumbered males. In recognition of the country's high population growth rate and its limited resources and economic prospects, which have brought about a rapid increase in the aggregate basic needs of the population for goods and services, the government has stated its policy and objective on population to reduce mortality, fertility, and immigration rates. For this to happen, the integration of family planning in the existing maternal and child health services was necessary. Alongside with the government's population policy goes a family planning policy that acknowledges that family planning is needed to obtain a better balance between family needs and the means to satisfy those needs, to reduce the number of abortions and the risk of death, to improve the health of mother and children, to intensify child and motherhood care, and to improve child nutrition, education, and the family economy in general. A number of factors still hinder the countrywide availability and accessibility to family planning services. The most salient are 1) age, 2) number of trained personnel, 3) resources, 4) socio-cultural factors, and 5) accessibility. A national health development project designed to extend primary health care services has recently been launched by the government but to date, not all the aspects of the intervention have been started.^ieng