THE United State Agency for International Development (USAID), has raised the alarm over the low level of contraceptive usage in Kogi state.
The agency regretted that the development had been resulting in high maternal and child mortality rate across the state.
The team leader, USAID Maternal and Child Survival Programm, Kogi state, Dr Gabriel Alobo, said this on Friday in Lokoja, the Kogi state capital at an awareness programme.
According to him, Kogi has the lowest contraceptive usage among the middle belt states which was about 11 per cent for all method and 8.5 per cent for mordy method, saying this is very low compared to the national average of 50 per cent for all method and 10 for mordy.
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He, however, said in order to correct the situation, the agency had developed a template that would increase the contraceptive usage in Kogi state to about 20 per cent.
Alobo said, “The effect of this low-level family planning is that more women and children are dying in Kogi because more women are getting pregnant and dying, so the death rate is higher in the state where the family planning is low. So, the more the usage of family planning in any state, the less the maternal and child mortality rate.
“The costed implementation planning that has been developed now is to determine what it will cost the Kogi state to take our family planning usage from the current low level to 20 per cent, that is just the target of this meeting.
“All the cost of the materials and logistics needed to increase the current low level of 11 per cent family planning in Kogi to 20 per cent is estimated to be about N500 million. Nigeria is targetting 27 per cent, but because we are lower than the national average which is 15 per cent”.
The wife of the Kogi state governor, Mrs Rashidat Bello, expressed the commitment of the present administration in the state to the welfare of women and children.
She said this is justified by the several healthcare programmes like Bello Health Intervention, Health Care Plus and the Rashida Bello intervention Programme.
According to her, various forms of family planning services were already part of the health programmes, noting that family planning is one of the key pillars of saving motherhood as it allowed mothers to have children by choice and not by chance.
She said, “Contraceptive usage reduces maternal rate and the burden of maternal and child death in Nigeria. Nigeria has a contraceptive prevalence rate of 15 per cent of all methods and 10 per cent for modern contraceptive method
We can do better, promoting contraceptive awareness will help to promote the demand for family planning services, it is indeed the collective responsibility of all stakeholders.
Bello, however, commended USAID for funding the Maternal and Child Survival Programme and Kogi Ministry of Health for their collaboration in ensuring that the state has family planning costed implementation plan to drive the progress of improving contraceptive prevalence rate in Kogi.
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