Over 0.5 million received contraceptive methods through NURHI in 5 years

A non-governmental organisation, Nigerian Urban Health Initiative (NURHI2) said over the last five years, over half a million women in Oyo State received contraceptive methods in health facilities it supported, even as facilities that stocked at least five modern methods increased to 100 per cent within the same period.

Chairman, Association of Medical Officers of Health, Oyo State, Dr Johnson Osoko, in a review of the project at End of Project Dissemination meeting, a virtual stakeholder meeting in Ibadan, said 440,517 of these women had received contraceptive methods from NURHI2 sites and the remaining through outreaches in NURHI- local government councils.

Osoko, stated that modern contraceptive prevalence rate in the state increased from 12.5 per cent in 2016 to 37.4 per cent within the period, and that three million men and women were reached by social mobilisers with information on family planning and services.

He declared “This led to a significant improvement in rejection of myths and misconceptions. People now believe that family planning cannot hurt a woman as against what it previously was.

“Perceived self-efficacy also became very high because people, after a lot of mobilisation, could decide by themselves without being influenced to access family planning services.”

According to him, the improved service delivery output and client satisfaction that the project achieved was because of the improvement in range of FP methods, capacity to offer service and reduced stock-out of methods in these NURHI2-supported sites.

Oyo State Commissioner for Health, Dr Basir Bello, acknowledged that the initiative’s interventions strengthened the healthcare system in the state by ensuring quality reproductive health and family planning service delivery.

Dr Bello, speaking through executive secretary, Oyo State Primary Health Care Board, Dr Babatunde Olatunji, assured that NURHI’s ideals would be sustained and continued to be mainstreamed into the state’s healthcare systems at both the primary and secondary levels, even as the state continues to prioritise the health of people.

Rodio Diallo, representative of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said ensuring sustainable commodity security and providing competencies through training and capacity building as well as use of state resources is the sure way to improve family planning and to reap demographic dividends.

Diallo, however, stated that to further accelerating the state’s CPR goal would require good governance and strong accountability systems, prioritising investment in family planning demand generation and social behavior approaches as well as the expansion of opportunities and access for adolescent and youth reproductive health to ensure no one is left behind.

Earlier, the Oyo State House of Assembly speaker, Honourable Debo Ogundoyin, stated that NGOs and CSOs were building blocks for successful communities and commended NURHI2 enactment of the reproductive health and family planning law in the state.

At the occasion, Honorable Ogundoyin, Dr Bello, Dr Olatunji and Dr Gbolahan Abbas were all recognised as maternal and reproductive health champions.

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