“The purpose of this
gathering is to enlighten the populace, both male and female of childbearing
age, on the benefits of family planning. “We have been paying lip
service to issues on family planning, but now is the time to address them; this
is what NURHI 2 is spearheading in Lagos State and the entire Nigeria.
“What they have done so
far is going around all the local government areas through the Primary Health
Centres (PHCs) to improve their family planning units. “It is expected that
people should access informed family planning services with ease from providers
who are knowledgeable,’’ he said.
Ilelaboye urged the three
tiers of government to pay more attention to funding and equipping of PHCs.
According to him, PHCs are
nearer to the downtrodden for access to healthcare services.
Dr Ajoke Ashiru,
Chairperson, Inter-faith Coalition Group, NURHI 2, said that the NGO was
targeting women of childbearing age – from age 15 to age 49 – in its advocacy
for family planning. She urged more involvement
of traditional, community, religious and market leaders in the advocacy.
“These play important
roles in decision making, and we believe in them,’’ Ashiru, also President ,
Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN), said. She urged religious
leaders to talk about family planning during sermons.
According to her, some of the benefits of family planning include child spacing, which enables a woman to recover fully from a previous pregnancy and delivery before having another child.
She added that family
planning promote's family bonding and helped families to grow financially,
thereby paving way for a healthy family and nation.
Mrs Olanike Soremikun, a
Family Planning and Reproductive Health Manager in Somolu, noted that more people
were seeking and accessing family planning services in the local government
area.
“In most of the PHCs, an
average of 16 acceptors used to come to access one method or the other, but
now, the rise has been as much as 40 and 50.
“There is more awareness; this is why we started this programme for different stakeholders to educate communities. “Most of these stakeholders may not be users, but they have daughters, daughters-in-law, neighbours and people in their communities that really need this services and information,’’ Soremikun said.
She urged participants at
the meeting to educate more women and men on the need for family planning.
I think family planning is extremely important. If people just plan their families well, more children will be able to attend school and poverty would greatly reduce.
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