STEPHEN EJIOFOR I Tuesday, October 27, 2020
AWKA, Nigeria – Stakeholders in the nation’s health sector sector have called on the government to fulfill her commitment to the 2020 global partnership to empower women and girls by budgeting the agreed USD 4 million annually, for family planning commodities and services.
This was the consensus at an online Stakeholders Meeting organized by the Africa Health Budget Network.
The convener of the meeting, Dr. Aminu Magashi Garba, in his presentation “FP2020 COMMITMENTS: Key Findings from the use of the Motion Tracker in 2019 and 2020 in Nigeria”, said that
Nigerian Government committed to embark on deliberate efforts to ensure sustainable financing for the National Family Planning program.
He noted that the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) is expected “to ensure provision of US$4 million annually from 2017 to 2020 for procurement of contraceptives for the public sector (an increase from the US$3M committed from 2011 to 2014) including payment of backlog of commitments for 2013 and 2014 in line with 2012 and 2017 London FP Summits”.
Dr. Garba regretted that Nigeria has not been able to meet up with its financial obligations to the global campaign. He identified one of the challenges as lack of multi-sectoral platform coordinating family planning activities in the relevant ministries.
He however called for scaling up of advocacy amongst state actors to achieve the desired results.
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Responding to the presentation, the Director and Head of Division, Reproductive Health, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Kayode Afolabi, said that partners in the family planning campaign are doing very well.
He also pointed out that state governments need to increase funding for family planning.
Dr. Afolabi also called for more advocacy and public enlightenment on the use of family planning commodities in the country.
On his part, a former Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Health, Hon. Muhammad Usman, said that there was need for high level engagement on family planning funding among both state actors and non-state actors, including heads of ministries, departments, agencies and NGO’s, adding that education of the citizens would help increase increase public awareness on effective use of family planning commodities for improved maternal and child healthcare in Nigeria.
Similarly, Dr Musa Muhammad Bello, identified various family planning gaps at the state levels that need to be bridged. He said that most clients in the states are no longer able to access family planning commodities and services.
In the same vein, a veteran health journalist, Mrs. Moji Makanjuola, said that the media is a key partner in achieving family planning success in Nigeria through their reportage.
Other participants at the webinar, advocated for the inclusion of family planning commodities and services in the National Health Insurance Scheme.
They also asked for government to consider giving women and girls in the Internally Displaced Persons Camps across the country family planning commodities.
