Nasarawa advances in adopting different family planning methods

Survey result released by Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020 (PMA 2020) in Lafia, Nasarawa state capital on Tuesday showed that Nasarawa State is among the states performing better in adopting different family planning measures, making a positive sign for the North central region.

The research was conducted between the months of May-June 2016 across the 13 local government areas of the state was led by the Centre for Research, Evaluation Resources & Development, CRERD, and Bayero University Kano, and implemented by the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, United States.

The study indicates that Nasarawa is performing better than other states within the northern region.The principal investigator and coordinator of PMA 2020, Dr. Elizabeth Oluwabi, while presenting the research findings said that there have been considerable gains in access to and use of modern contraceptives methods.

According to her the demand for family planning was impressive and a greater proportion of that need is now being satisfied by the provision of modern methods.

She further disclosed that the survey result shows that contraceptive use is high among women living in rural areas compared to women in urban areas.

Oluwabi further explained that the Nasarawa- R1 survey used a two stage cluster design with urban-rural strata with a sample of 40 Enumeration Areas (EA).

Adding that in each EA households and private health facilities were listed and mapped, with 35 households randomly selected and eligible females between the ages of 15 to 49 were interviewed.

“The final sample included 1,362 households, 98.9 per cent, 1638 females, 98.9 per cent and 86 health facilities, 90.5 per cent.”She disclosed that the 2nd round of the research would be conducted in 6 months later to reassess the performance.

Also speaking at the presentation ceremony the Commissioner for health, Nasarawa State, Prof. Dan Iya, described the research conducted by PMA 2020 as highly laudable and capable of addressing the challenges of family planning and family health in the state.

The Commissioner who was represented by the Director of public health, Dr. Adamu Ibrahim, noted that the data collected would help in guiding government in designing policy.

According to the Commissioner, the research would also help in creating awareness and educating the public on issues relating to family health.

Ibrahim said that the state government is highly impressed with the level of adopting family planning measures, disclosing that the sum of N200 Million have been allocated for family planning in the 2016 budget.

He then solicited for an effective synergy between PMA 2020 and Nasarawa State Ministry of health in the area of training and retraining to facilitate comprehensive enlightenment as well as create an effective link with private sector for dissemination of various research findings.