The Abia State Primary Health Care Development Agency says it organized a one-day workshop for Family Planning Supervisors and the new Monitoring and Evaluation Officers for the 17 Local Government Areas to create awareness of the self-care interventions, self-inject family planning method and improved facility data reporting.
Speaking at the event held in Umuahia, the Assistant Chief Programme Officer, Society for Family Health, and Project Lead for Delivering Innovation in Self Care (DISC) Project, Dr. Anthony Nwala, disclosed that the programme was to serve as a platform to exchange learnings, experiences, and best practices on self-care contraception, build capacity on self-injection, empathy-based counseling, tighten oversight on service provision, data reporting and commodity security.
Self-care he said, is the ability of individuals, families, and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a health worker, adding that self-care health interventions can be classified into three main areas: self-awareness, self-testing, and self-management.
“We are promoting self-care. We are now demonstrating it with a contraceptive method that can be injected by a client in the comfort, and privacy of their homes after they have been trained,” he added.
He explained that the self-inject contraceptive method is about self-care, which he described as one of the ways to achieve universal health coverage, pointing out the importance of documentation and reporting because accuracy, timeliness and complete reporting at all levels enable adequate planning and mobilization of resources for the health needs of Abians by the State Government and her Partners.
“We have noticed some data gaps all the way from the source of data, which is the service delivery point, which is why the Department for Planning Research and Statistics of the Federal Ministry of Health is part of this workshop in Abia State today.
“We are looking at how to harmonize data elements, how we make available tools, and train providers on how to use those tools. How do we build the capacity of the officers when it comes to picking these data and validation so that we make sure that quality data is being generated at the service delivery points which are accurately transmitted into the NHMIS system,” he said.
According to the Social and Behavioural Change Officer, Dr. Eze Chiemela Veronica, Delivering Innovation in Self Care (DISC) Project is an intervention project being implemented by the Society for Family Health (SFH) and Population Services International, with funding support from the Children Investment Fund Foundation in partnership with Abia State Primary Health Care Development Agency to scale-up of quality self-care options in Sexual Reproductive Health, starting with DMPA-SC self-injection.
The project she said, creates demand and awareness about the different contraceptive methods including DMPA-SC self-injection also known as Sayana Press, adding that the programme was organized at this time because of the challenges thrown up during the covid and post-covid experience when most of the women did not have access to quality health care service under the lockdown.
According to her, “during the COVID-19, self-care contraception would have helped individuals and families to prevent many of the unplanned pregnancies recorded during COVID-19, as many women avoided the health facility when their method expired because they were afraid of contracting the virus at the health facility.
“The uptake of family planning method helps an individual or a couple to plan their family, on when to get pregnant, the number of children to have, and the intervals they want to have children”.
In her remark, the State Family Planning Coordinator, Iheama Adanna Kelechi, said, “We are trying to put in place a sustainability plan for the DISC project implemented by Society for Family Health in Abia State”, pointing out that the programme was launched in 2022 and will roll through 2024 with the aim of empowering women to take charge of their sexual and reproductive health.
“It supports women’s knowledge and demand for self-care. Self-care means that they can administer themselves with the family planning method anywhere including the comfort of their homes. It will also help them access Family Planning services wherever they want, and it is very effective. We have trained supervisors who will cascade them in their local government areas to health providers”, she said.
According to her, the awareness creation on the use of the Self-inject contraceptive is an “improvement from what we had before because after being trained, and it reduces every-three-month lengthy visits to a health facility, which draws attention to her health-seeking behaviour.
“It reduces lengthy waiting times, and she can then re-inject herself without interrupting her day. Her use can be more private and confidential (as it can be done in her bedroom, office, shops.”
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