T HE Federal Government has budgeted N1.22billion for family planning in its revised Appropriation Bill for 2020 in support of family planning information, services and commodities for Nigerians of reproductive age.
The director, Reproductive Health Unit, Federal Ministry of health, Dr Kayode Afolabi, disclosed this during a media parley organised by the Network of Reproductive Health Journalists Nigeria (NRHJN) in collaboration with Marie Stopes Nigeria (MSION). He said the ministry is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that women have access to modern contraceptives amidst the ongoing lockdown.
Speaking via a webinar conference on ‘Sustaining Family Planning and Sexual Reproductive Health Services Delivery Amidst COVID-19,’ Dr Afolabi declared that the pandemic induced some challenges in sustaining family planning service delivery and uptake during this period that the Ministry is currently tackling.
He said: “Reproductive health and family planning services were not prioritized in the initial COVID-19 response plan at national and state levels; all efforts were on target at COVID-19.
“We experienced a delay in clearing some of our commodities due to restriction in movement. All of these resulted in a sharp decline in services. Existing protocols and guidelines were lacking on how interventions should go during COVID19 pandemic.
“Consumption of key family planning commodities which were on an upward trajectory in January 2020 has decreased significantly by April 2020. Injectables recorded the highest percentage decline at 29 per cent, closely followed by implants at 20 per cent and Intrauterine device (IUD) at 14 per cent.”
Dr Afolabi stated that the Federal Government in response had strengthened community-based family planning programme to ensure that family planning clients receive services and commodities within their immediate communities, including in humanitarian settings.
MSION, Country Director, Effiom Nyong Effiom, stated that the organization through its service delivery within the past three months had prevented no fewer than 279,538 unsafe abortions, 19,781 child deaths and 3, 968 maternal deaths across the country amidst the pandemic.
According to him, no fewer than 772,628 persons had assessed family planning services at MSION’s service delivery channels while client’s visits to MSION-supported facilities had increased by 22 per cent.
Effiom added that uptake of permanent family planning method like implant and IUD doubled within this period.
He declared “We employed the use of social media to reach more people. Being at home, people looked to the internet and social media for information. We used social media to educate audiences on COVID-19 and reinforced that MSION Clinics were open. We also developed COVID-19 guidelines for service delivery to each of our channel of operation. This ensured standard of practice and care across the board.”
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