Child Spacing: Gombe Women appeal for free supply of commodities

Women of childbearing age in Gombe State have appealed to the government at all levels and donor agencies particularly those operating in the health sector to ensure that there is steady availability of child spacing commodities at a free cost to them in all health facilities.

This became necessary because more women have embraced the child spacing services aimed at keeping them and their children healthy based on a visit to two Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in the Gombe metropolis.

During the visits, Some of the women who spoke to our correspondent however complained that the commodities and services are too expensive, as such they want it to be given free of charge so that more women will access the service.

One of the women, Habiba Isiaku, a mother of five children, after enjoying the benefits of child spacing said that, ” I have become an advocate of family planning to other women” pointing out that it is the cost that is driving women away from patronising family planning services.

She lamented that “Women pay N1,000 for implants, one of the methods, to be planted on them to prevent unplanned pregnancies. But most of the women who are financially dependent on their husbands or are low-income earners feel the services should rather be provided free.”

Habiba Isiaku further said that she took in barely three months after her first child but that realising the danger, she decided to avoid such mistakes by patronising family planning services with the consent of her husband. It greatly improved her reproductive health.

She also said that since then, she had been spacing her children in the periods of three and two and a half years.

At the Primary Health Centre in Kumbiya-Kumbiya, 31-year-old Iyami Tanko, mother of three, told our correspondent that that was her first-time visit to access the services having heard about it from a friend who has been receiving it for a few years.

Iyami Tanko said that she is opting for the services because before now, she gave a very limited period before giving birth but now wants to give more than three years spacing for her children.

Some other women also spoke on the benefits of child spacing which include the reproductive health of the women themselves, affording families to be able to financially take and give adequate attention to the children among many others.

While speaking to newsmen, Amina Nuhu, facility manager of the PHC in Kumbiya-Kumbiya, said that many women now patronise child spacing services adding that the facility receives over 280 new and follow-up clients in a month, overshadowing the target of the facility.

She called on government and donor organisations to maintain the availability of these commodities stressing that, “when we had the stock out for about two to three months in the past, we experienced low turn out. But because we want to encourage them to come, we do buy some of the commodities and sell them to them when they come. We also do a lot of counselling.”

Zainab Wali, the facility manager at Bolari PHC, said there is wide acceptance of the child spacing services especially before the COVID-19 era and said the patronage greatly reduced during the COVID-19 period due to the non-availability of the commodities.

She said they do buy and sell the commodities to the clients who could afford them adding that currently, the commodities are available but very inadequate. she appealed for adequate supply from both government and donor organisations.

Family planning or child spacing methods as it is generally referred to in the North has gradually received acceptance in Gombe State due to massive awareness, campaigns and enlightenment in many quarters with the use of traditional and religious leaders among many other opinion moulders.

It is hoped that it with help against population explosion, house heads to be able to financially take care of their families and help the government to plan well for its populace.

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