Chima Azubuike
The United Nations Population Fund has revealed that with the recent procurement of Family Planning commodities by Gombe State, no fewer than 3,238 abortions and 195 child-related deaths will be averted.
The UNFPA Kaduna sub-office Head, Dr. Awoke Tasew-Tebej, who disclosed this, also said 38 maternal deaths would be curbed.
He made this disclosure at the Gombe State medical store, during the handover of state procured FP commodities by Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency in collaboration with the State Ministry of Health and UNFPA.
According to him, access to contraceptives is known to play a key role in the achievement of National and International development goals, adding that the Sustainable Development Goal 3 and FP2030 targets and objectives would be attained.
Dr. Tasew-Tebej further said the procurement would address the wide gap in the unmet need for family planning and reduce maternal mortality in Gombe State by leveraging on the long-term partnership with UNFPA in line with the National Guidelines for State-Funded Procurement of FP Commodities.
He said, “Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency supported the procurement of male condoms – Noristerat, Depo Provera and Implanon. The impact will avert 7.818 unintended pregnancies 3,238 Abortions 38 Maternal deaths, and 195 child deaths.”
While commending the Gombe State Government, Dr. Tasew-Tebej said Family Planning would not only reduce maternal and infant mortality, it would accelerate economic growth and development.
“The government in Nigeria is committed to ensuring that reproductive health services are accessible to all Nigerians, especially the most vulnerable women and adolescent girls. In line with this, the Gombe State government, however, made a commitment and demonstrated leadership as the first state in the country to facilitate the procurement of family planning commodities.
“Financing for Health and Family Planning in Nigeria is the responsibility of the three tiers of government (federal, states and LGAs).
“Although FP funding is increasing every year, it has consistently been inadequate over the years and had to be augmented by external donors. Overall, FP has been financed by external donors,” Dr. Tasew-Tebej added.
Also speaking, Commissioner for Health, Dr. Habu Dahiru, said the state provided N36m as counterpart funding to procure the family planning items and noted that Governor Muhammadu Yahaya is committed to improving the health of women.
He said the commodities were geared towards addressing unmet needs for family planning
“The governor has prioritised mothers and is committed to curbing maternal mortality. This is an intervention to cut costs and save lives.
“It’s free and recipients would not be charged. It’s based on the data we receive that we will use to procure others. The counterpart funding is N36m from Gombe State but procurement is way beyond that,” he said.
Also, Yaya Hammari who represented the traditional institution lauded the state government and UNFPA for the collaboration.
He promised that they would continue to support the uptake of child spacing in the state.
On his part, the State Programme Officer of ‘The Challenge Initiative’, Yakubu Abubakar, expressed delight at the availability of the commodities, adding, “Childbirth spacing promotes economic development because the cost of managing pregnancy and delivery is expensive.”
The Executive Director of Saif Foundation, Alhassan Yahya, while commending the collaboration, described the procurement of the FP commodities as the fallout of his organisation’s advocacy meetings.
Yahya, who doubles as the Chairman of the Advocacy Working Group on Family Planning said, “Today is a justification that we have done our jobs very well.
“We conducted a series of advocacies and what we are seeing today is a product of that work. Gombe is doing well with a 17 per cent Contraceptive Prevalence Rate considering where we are coming from, which is four per cent. But our unmet need is still high at 16 per cent.”
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