FAMILY PLANNING: OGSG ADVOCATES ACTIVE COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION

Ogun State Government has charged stakeholders in the health sector, as well as community leaders, to be actively involved on issues relating to family planning.

The State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, gave the charge in Abeokuta, while declaring open, a workshop organised by the State Primary Health Care Development Board, in conjunction with a development partner, The Challenge Initiative (TCI), to review past programmes and interventions on family planning.

“Our duty as health practitioners is to mobilize the people to take full responsibility of their health because this is the way to go. All stakeholders must agree to move public health forward, especially family planning”, he said.

Ipaye noted that reports in recent times had shown remarkable increase in the level of awareness and uptake of family planning, with the involvement of mobilizers, community and religious leaders, saying, it was an indication that all stakeholders must be actively involved in pushing public health care to the next level.

The Commissioner urged participants at the workshop to come up with sustainable policy, plans and programmes that would be geared towards achieving more for less, as donor funding would not always be available.

While appreciating the efforts of the development partners at increasing the Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) in the State, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Adesanya Ayinde, noted that, there had been a significant increase in the awareness and uptake of family planning, promising that the State would continue to do more, in order to achieve the 2020 target, as well as prevent unwanted pregnancies and maternal deaths.

Also speaking, the Executive Secretary, State Primary Health Care Development Board, Dr. Elijah Ogunsola, said healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies was essential, as it help couples space their children appropriately, assuring that, the measure had proven health and non-health benefits to women, children, men, as well as, the family and Community at large

In her presentation, the State Reproductive Health Coordinator, Dr. Joy Akinsanya, said the objective of the meeting was to address the challenges of commodities stock out, last mile distribution and to stimulate policy makers’ alongside stakeholders’ interest in financing FP interventions.

Earlier, Director, TCI, Nigeria,  Dr. Victor Igharo said,  the Initiative was in the State to support and implement high impact family programme for improved maternal health in all communities, adding that issues to be focus on, would be address at the meeting.