A cross section of stakeholders at the Town-Hall meeting on Family Planning for the Lekki Local Council Development Area, organised by the Nigeria Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI)
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Family planning
By Vivian Ihechu
Lagos, Feb. 8, 2018 (NAN) Ogidan Olaitan, Chairman, Lekki Local Council Development Area (LLCDA), Lagos, on Thursday said that the council would provide free Family Planning drugs in all 13 Primary Health Centres in the area.
Speaking during a town hall meeting on Family Planning at the council secretariat in Lekki, Olaitan said the gesture would help to improve maternal health in the LCDA.
“There are still serious concerns on the challenges that women encounter during pregnancy and child birth in our country.
“One of the ways to address this is through family planning or child spacing because if a pregnancy is not planned for and it occurs, it could have adverse effects.
“Such effects have negative toll within the individual, families, community and nation.
“Also, to forestall any excuse for people not to access any form of family planning method, I have put it in the budget for the year that there will free drugs on family planning,’’ he said.
Olaitan also promised to create a lot of awareness on family planning continuously on monthly basis.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event was organised by the Nigeria Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI),
Dr Edun Omasanjuwa, State Team Leader for NURHI 2 Lagos, said family planning was all encompassing, including planning your entire family from the start to the end.
“It includes the spacing in between your children, how you want to take care of these children, their education, their welfare and nutrition.
“There are many benefits to family planning and we encourage people to know their options and the benefits,’’ Omasanjuwa said. (NAN)
VIV/ENN/WOJ
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Edited by Edwin Nwachukwu/Wale Ojetimi
Mr Olaitan Ogidan, Chairman, Lekki Local Council Development Area, speaking during the Town-Hall meeting on Family Planning organised by the Nigeria Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI) at the LLCDA secretariat in Lagos. (NAN)
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Edited by Edwin Nwachukwu/Wale Ojetimi
Mr Idonije Obakhedo, Head of Editorial Services, NAN Lagos Office receiving media kit from Mr Abraham Adekoya, while Mr Akin Jimoh (Right), the Programme Director, DEVCOMS and Mrs Appolonia Eke, look with interest
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Maternal
By Busayo Onijala/Vivian Ihechu
Lagos, Jan. 31, 2018 (NAN) An NGO, Development Communications Network (DEVCOMS), has called for collaboration with the media for improved maternal and child health to reduce high burden of maternal deaths in Nigeria.
Mr Akin Jimoh, the Programme Director, DEVCOMS, made the call on Wednesday during a courtesy visit to the Lagos Operations of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at Iganmu, Lagos.
Jimoh was accompanied on the visit by Mrs Appolonia Eke, a Family Planning Consultant and Financial Secretary, Public Health Sustainable Advocacy Initiative (PHSAI), Lagos.
Other members of the visiting team were Mr Abraham Adekoya, Vice-Chairman, Interfaith Group of Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI) and Devcoms Head of Programmes, Ms Ikeoluwa Otudeko.
Mr Idonije Obakhedo, the Deputy-Editor-in-Chief and Head of NAN, Lagos Editorial Services, received the team on behalf of Mr Mike Mbonye, the Director/Head of Lagos Operations.
Jimoh said, “It is regrettable that a large proportion of women still lose their lives to pregnancy and childbirth-related complications.
“In Lagos State alone, statistics show that 555 women out of 100,000 die annually in Lagos as a result of complications during pregnancy and childbirth; it is equivalent to six women dying every hour.
“A lot of factors account for these needless deaths; there is need to stem them and it requires increased collaborative efforts and massive sensitisation.
“The media can play a major role in this because they checkmate government policies, ensure that there is accountability, as well as give out the right information to the public.
“Yet, we need to do more because these deaths are under-reported, especially when it has to do with under-developed, rural and semi-rural areas.’’
According to him, maternal mortality is not an issue to be overlooked; its causes are broad ranging from unwanted pregnancy which lead to abortions, haemorrhage, sepsis, poor healthcare services and delays.
“They include inability to take prompt decisions before going to a health facility, unavailability of transportation to access, as well as the proximity of health facilities.
“Delays can also come from factors that affect prompt treatment such as power supply, unavailability of qualified medical personnel, drugs, consumables among others.
“There is need for individuals, health workers, government and the media to know that we are all stakeholders in this issue.
“We can be victims in one way or the other; so, it is necessary to intensify the need for good maternal health because without good health, we cannot function well,’’ Jimoh said.
Also, Mrs Appolonia Eke of PHSAI, Lagos, said, “Media are integral in achieving the desired aim of reducing maternal mortality.
“If they show the kind of commitment that was shown during the time we had Ebola crisis in Nigeria, through the dissemination of right information, the rate of deaths from complications of pregnancy and childbirth will be reduced.
“There is need for people to understand and embrace family planning (child spacing) and the use of contraceptive methods.
“Child spacing helps to avoid the proven challenges that women face in pregnancy and childbirth, especially when they are too young, old, or when pregnancies are too close or too many.
“Successful child spacing programmes improve quality of life and significantly contribute to demographic dividends and national development.”
Eke said that advocacy and enlightenment campaigns should be continuous, especially in the rural and semi-urban areas to highlight the importance of accessing healthcare services and family planning.
Also commenting, Mr Abraham Adekoya, the Vice-Chairman, Interfaith Group of NURHI, said, “ It is important that people know the right information on family planning (child spacing) and use of contraceptives.
“This is because adequate information will help to correct some of the myths and misconceptions and break barriers surrounding the use of contraceptives in Nigeria.
“There should be more investment in family planning services in terms of funding and advocacy, because failure to take action will result to dire consequences.
“When a woman dies, it is not just a loss to family, but a loss to the nation; this is because the nation loses out on her contributions to the social and economic development,’’ Adekoya said.
Earlier, Obakhedo commended the Devcoms team for their commitment to the health sector, especially the drive to ensure that women enjoyed good maternal health.
He said that the agency was committed to disseminating right and balanced information to members of the public.
Obakhedo pledged the support of NAN toward realising the goals on health,
especially in reducing maternal and child mortality, improving maternal health to achieve a better Nigeria.
Obakhedo was joined by Mr Silas Nwoha, Deputy-Editor-in-Chief (DEIC) Metro), Mr Tajudeen Atitebi (DEIC/Head of Economics Desk), Mr Peter Ejiofor (DEIC Sports), Mr Olagoke Olatoye, (AEIC, Head, Health and Gender Desk) and Mrs Vivian Ihechu, Editor. (NAN)
OMB/VIV/GOK
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Editing by Vivian Ihechu/Olagoke Olatoye
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Adolescents
By Vivian Ihechu
Lagos, Nov.1, 2017 (NAN) An NGO, Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI 2), on Wednesday called for increased access to information on unsafe sex for adolescents to reduce its accompanying consequences.
Dr Omasanjuwa Edun, the Lagos State Team Leader, NURHI 2, made the call at a meeting on “Net Mapping of Adolescents and Youth Family Planning Situation in Lagos State” held in Lagos.
Edun said that unsafe sex was a common practice among youths, which resulted in unintended pregnancy that ends in unsafe abortion and its complications.
Edun said that increased information on safe sex and family planning would address unsafe sex and teenage pregnancy which have been identified as important maternal and public health challenges.
“Currently, about one quarter of Nigerian adolescents are sexually active, with the age of sexual debut ranging from 10 to 15 years.
“There is need for teenagers to know how to guard against unwanted circumstances such as unwanted pregnancy to secure their future.
“Family planning is not only meant for the married, but in the real sense of it, it is for every sexually active person not ready to bear children at that particular point in time.
“Thus, when teenagers who are sexually active cannot be convinced to abstain from sex, they should be armed with information on the implications of sexual intercourse.
“Family planning should also be recommended to them.
“So, we have to start educating them on time to have the knowledge of family planning so that when they find themselves in such situations they will be able to prevent unwanted pregnancies,’’ Edun said.
He said that adolescent pregnancy had become a daunting problem in Nigeria.
“Studies have shown the prevalence of unintended pregnancy among adolescents to be 23 per cent in the West, 36 per cent in the South and 26 per cent in the North-Central.
“The inability of adolescents to access not just contraceptives but the necessary information when needed has also been found to be responsible for the unintended pregnancies in adolescents.
“This often results in unsafe abortions,’’ he said.
According to the NURHI official, it has been projected that the population of young people in Nigeria will exceed 57 million by the year 2025, a large proportion of which are adolescents.
He said adolescents constitute an important proportion of the population of Nigeria, adding that they also have delicate stages that presented challenges.
Edun said that the challenges were sexual and reproductive health due to the developmental changes in their bodies.
He listed some of the dangers of unsafe sex to include sexually transmitted infections, unintended pregnancies, abortions, interference with their education and child marriage.
“This practice exposes them to Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) and HIV with a prevalence of 17 per cent among adolescents in the South-East and 14 per cent in the Northern part of the country.’’
“ In South-West Nigeria for example, 27.4 per cent of unintended pregnancy among adolescents in a secondary school ended in abortion, while other studies recorded about 60 per cent,’’ Edun said.
He said Nigeria reports a yearly rate of 25 abortions per 1000 women and more than a quarter of which were from adolescents, resulting in unintended pregnancy.
He said that in the Southern part, about 32 per cent of the cases of unsafe abortion was among adolescents who had unintended pregnancy.
“All these pose danger to the lives of adolescents and contribute to the overall maternal mortality in Nigeria.
“Getting pregnant may not even be the most disturbing problem for some adolescents in Nigeria, but the fact that in most cases it interferes with their education.
“Evidence from studies has shown that those who are pregnant as students, either dropout of school or dismissed from school, majority of whom may never get back to school again.
“Others are forced by their parents into child marriage as a result of the pregnancy,’’ Edun said. (NAN)
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Edited by Oluyinka Fadare/Olagoke Olatoye
Itire Ijesha PHC acquires family planning clinic to improve services
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PHC
Lagos, March 1, 2017 (NAN) A new Family Planning (FP) Clinic has been installed by the Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI) 2 at Itire-Ijesha Primary Health Centre, Mushin, Lagos to improve health services.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that NURHI is funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to improve reproductive health, especially family planning.
The family planning unit at Itire Ijesha PHC is one of the 50 selected PHCs and hospitals in Lagos State under the NURHI 2 “72-hour Family Planning Clinic Make-Over’’ project.
Dr Duduyemi Adeola, a family planning expert with the NURHI, told NAN in Lagos that family planning was an important intervention strategy to avert maternal death.
“It is established that there is high rate of maternal mortality in the country and all efforts are geared toward reducing it.
“Family planning is one of the most effective ways to prevent maternal, infant and child mortality.
“It reduces maternal mortality by reducing the number of unintended pregnancies, the number of abortions and the proportion of high risk births,’’ she said.
“Increasing access to family planning among women and men of reproductive age in Lagos State and in Nigeria as a whole will help to achieve this.
“Our target is to achieve 74 per cent contraceptive prevalence (CP) use by 2018.’’
She said: “Mushin is one of the areas in Lagos identified as being highly populated, especially with people of reproductive age who are equally sexually active.
“So, with family planning in place, pregnancies can be prevented in the first instance and quality of life will also improve for the mother, husband, children, family and nation as a whole’’.
The Itire Ijesha PHC serves the Itire community, situate at the boundary between Mushin Local Government Area and Itire-Ikate Local Government, as such, people from both LGAs access it.
“What we have done is to convert an area of the centre to be a family planning unit; we now have a place for counselling and family planning procedure.
“All these were done within 72 hours, from a Friday to a Monday; we have also repainted the waiting hall as well as provided some consumables.
“We urge the people of the area to access the facility and seek family planning counsel; it will go a long way to improve the quality of their life.
“We also appeal to the government to maintain the place and continue to put it to good use for the benefit of the people,’’ she said.
Contributing, Olayinka Kazeem, the Sole Administrator of Mushin LGA, commended NURHI for the gesture.
He said that there would be programmes to mobilise the residents of the area to use the facility and access family planning care.
He advised men to embrace family planning as it was good for the entire society and not just women.
Mrs Santos Omosola, the officer in charge and an Assistant Chief Nursing Officer at Itire Ijesha PHC, said that Thursdays and Fridays were antenatal and family planning service days.
“We used to be overwhelmed because people are many, the environment was not conducive and we were usually short of consumables.
“With this makeover, we will deliver improved services to people that require it,’’ she said. (NAN)
VIV/PDE
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(Editing by Peter Ejiofor)
Itire Ijesha, Mushin LGA, Lagos, Family Planning Clinic
