The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has decided to promote an expanded contraceptive method for family planning by promising to scale-up access to Hormonal Intrauterine Devices, a form of reversible contraceptive device.
This was made known by the Director, Family Health Department in the ministry, Dr Stella Nwosu, on Thursday in Abuja at the close-out and dissemination workshop on the completion of the Catalytic Opportunity Fund HIUD project.
Represented by Alex Ugochukwu, Head of Logistics and Services, Family Planning Unit in the ministry, she said the project had encouraged lots of families to embrace the HIUD contraceptive method.
“And, this project has done a lot in repositioning family planning in the country, most especially in these two states (Sokoto and Bauchi), especially HIUD; it is for the client to choose.
“I want to believe there is no bias because when we are preaching HIUD, there should be censored bias.
“Balance counseling is the way. So, I commend everyone who is here for this particular occasion. They have done so well. And on behalf of the ministry will continue to support you,’’ Nwosu added.
She also commended EngenderHealth, the implementers of the HIUD project for their commitment towards improving maternal and Sexual Reproductive Services in the country.
Country Representative, EngenderHealth, Dr Kabiru Atta, said the nine-month-old, 250,000 dollar HIUD project aimed at promoting an expanded contraceptive method mix in Bauchi and Sokoto States.
He revealed that 46 health workers from 44 facilities in the HIUD service delivery were trained to cascade it to down to 230 healthcare providers in Bauchi and Sokoto States.
Atta explained that the project provided HIUD insertion kits and anatomical models to secondary health facilities to support increased service demand at facilities.
He said the organisation also advocated additional government funding and successfully secured budget allocation in Sokoto and Bauchi States for the 2024 fiscal year to support commodity availability and retraining for healthcare providers.
Atta said the Bauchi State Government doubled the budget for family planning, and increased allocation from N75m in 2023 to N150m in 2024, while Sokoto tripled it from N10m in 2023 to N30m in 2024.
He added, “So, I think one of the successes of this project is the fact that we are able to get Bauchi and Sokoto States to commit funding to procure commodities, which is really one of the biggest issues we face in the family planning space in Nigeria.
“So, with this budgetary commitment, we are hoping for a full long phase where we can actually support them by using a recently released guideline that supports procurement of family planning commodities.
“We can support the states, mentor them and hopefully, get their procurement system in place to be able to procure these commodities themselves.”
Speaking also, Bauchi State Commissioner for Health, Dr Adamu Sambo, said the project has been impactful and successful in Bauchi State, as women have started to accept the HIUD to save lives and unwanted pregnancies.
(NAN)
