We cannot allow gains made on health to be reversed by COVID-19 — Pathfinder

Country Director, Pathfinder International, Dr Amina Aminu Dorayi, has said Nigeria should not allow the modest strides it made in improving access to sexual and reproductive health services to be reversed by COVID-19.

Dr Dorayi, who spoke at the 2020 World Population Day celebration webinar hosted by Pathfinder International, stated that this is critical because the pandemic has brought to the fore many issues such as street children roaming the streets in Northern Nigeria, insecurity, rape and gender-based violence, all with consequences on population and development.

Dorayi noted that these are shocks that Nigeria’s weak social structure and health system is unable to absorb.

“If we do not take action to safeguard stronger progress towards women and girls sexual and reproductive health needs and vulnerability during this pandemic, there will be a lot that we will witness in the future,” she said.

While stating that COVID-19 is taking a toll more on women, including those in the health workforce being disproportionately exposed to the virus, she added that sidelining of services that are not COVID-19-related is also causing challenges that inadvertently are affecting the population moving forward.

Dr Ibrahim Adamu Alhassan, Director, Public health, Nasarawa State Ministry of Health, stated that by sustaining sexual and reproductive health services during the COVID-19 pandemic, 25 per cent of maternal deaths in Nigeria would be averted when women have access to modern contraceptive methods.

According to Dr Adamu Alhassan, the shift in focus of healthcare workers away from other health services such as antenatal services and surgeries, including lack of COVID-19 protocol and limited availability of personal protective equipment in healthcare facilities, has impacted reproductive health and family planning services.

The way forward, he said, is for all to accept the reality of COVID-19 and get services back on track to get health facilities to adopt COVID-19 protocols to ease services and enforcement of various policies and laws in relation to Sexual and Reproductive Health, including gender-based violence as well as timely release of funds for reproductive health services.

Mrs Rejoice Bala, Family Planning coordinator, Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency, stated that the lure in Family Planning service was only in the first week of COVID-19 lockdown, and methods sought were male condoms and injectables.

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