Stakeholders advocate increased family planning for reduced maternal mortality

Stakeholders meeting on the sideline of the 57th annual national conference of the Society of Gynaecologists and Obstetrics, (SOGON), have called for increased access to family planning across communities in Kano and Kaduna States for reduced maternal mortality.

Disclosing this in a communiqué signed by the Director Partnerships Development and Communications of the development Research and Projects Center, (dRPC), Alhassan Karofi, the group said availability of these services in Primary Health Care, (PHCs), will lead to better access and reduced maternal mortality

They said domestic family planning financing is a necessary intervention to improve maternal health and reduce maternal mortality in their states.

Kano State Commissioner of Health, Dr Abubakar Yusuf, said he state has just concluded plans to secure family planning commodities as part of its efforts to reduce maternal mortality through child spacing.

Represented by the Director General of Kano State Private Health Institutions Management Agency, Professor Salisu Ibrahim, noted that although family planning is not the single path for ensuring maternal health, the Kano state government is determined to invest in maternal health through all available paths, including family planning, adequate human resources for health, and improved funding.

‘’We are passionate about maternal health and safe delivery of all pregnant women in all the 44 LGs, and in all the 1, 234 PHCs, 80 secondary health facilities, and 956 facilities offering FP in Kano state. Capacity building is a priority, and family planning supplies to close the gap from the shortages from the federal government’s supply mechanism’’ He said.

Commending dRPC for its leadership role in organizing the meeting, the commissioner revealed that N200 million has been approved for family planning funding as well as N3 billion for the procurement of essential drugs to ensure adequate and effective healthcare delivery in the state in addition to the engagement of Islamic scholars to include the benefits of child spacing in their sermons as part of efforts to create awareness about the need for an efficient population for growth and development of the state.

Kaduna State Commissioner for Health, Hajiya Umma Ahmed represented by Dr Salimatu Ahmed, said that Kaduna state has approached the federal government to enable it to contribute to the family planning basket for the procurement of commodities as part of its efforts to tackle increasing cases of maternal mortality in the state.

She disclosed that the state government is working with community volunteers to mobilize parents and spouses to reduce maternal deaths through adopting family planning methods, adding that a campaign for adolescent married women has increased family planning services by forty percent.

‘’This campaign is yielding results as over 100,000 adolescent married youth between ages 15-19 have been mobilized and sent back to school as a complementary strategy to delay pregnancies and improve their health” She pointed.