At least 12,852 women of childbearing age in Ondo State have been trained on sexual and reproductive health by adopting the contraceptive self-care method of family planning.
The women were trained through the collaboration of the Ondo State Ministry of Health with the Society for Family Health (SFH) under a project tagged Delivering Innovation in Self-Care (DISC), which lasted for 22 months.
Speaking during the dissemination of the state’s FP/DMPA performance DISC project in Akure, the state capital, the Social and Behavioural Change Coordinator for the Society for Family Health, Mr. Titus Michael, explained that the DISC project was a five-year sexual and reproductive health programme implemented by Population Service International and the Society for Family Health, Nigeria.
Michael said the self-care approach was designed to revolutionise family planning practices by equipping women with the knowledge and skills to administer contraceptive injections independently.
According to him, “This project is looking towards ensuring that we have an upscale in self-care in the country.
“The DISC project was implemented in five LGAs of the 18 local government areas of the state, namely Ile-Oluji, Akure South, Owo, Ondo West, and Akure North.
“The project commenced in Ondo State in December 2022 and terminated in the first quarter of 2024. It was able to reach about 44,672 women in the 18 local government areas, and about 28,708 were referred for family planning.
“The programme has trained 45 facilities, 72 providers of service delivery, 18 M&E officers on family planning data reporting, and 20 community mobilizers.”
The Starr Commissioner for Health, Dr Banji Ajaka, promised that the state government would continue to provide family planning commodities to women of childbearing age across the 18 local council areas of the state as part of its recommendations in the subsequent budget in the state.
Ajaka, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr Adeniran Ikuomola, commended the SFH for its contribution to the health indices of the state.
He said: “The state government will do everything to ensure the success of this project. The dissemination of the report of the DISC project will encourage us to adopt it in the state because of the usefulness and positive effects that it is going to have on our family planning services in the state.
“The commodities will be made available in the state, and we expect maximum cooperation from the partners in supporting us to succeed too.
“The government will do everything possible to make all of us comfortable within the system.”
The Family Planning Coordinator in the Ondo State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (OSPHCDA), Mrs Opeyemi Agunbiade, noted that there has been about 600 per cent growth in the self-injection rate in Ondo State while reiterating that over 60 of every 100 women who opt for DMPA-SC as their method of choice are self-injecting successfully under the supervision of their health providers or at home.
Agunbiade explained further that DMPA-SC uptake grew by 60 per cent from 750 visits in July 2022 to 1,232 visits in January 2024, and the self-injection rate also grew from 8 per cent to over 60 per cent in Q4. 2023.
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