Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has approved the sum of N126million for the purchase of items for family planning and capacity building for family planning service providers in the state.
The state commissioner for Health, Dr. adaeze Oreh, who disclosed this in Port Harcourt yesterday, said the fund will also cater for community mobilization for family planning demand generation.
Oreh, who commended Fubara for his unwavering commitment to improving the health outcomes of the state, said the governor’s leadership and guidance have been instrumental in steering the health sector towards excellence.
She said: “I am delighted to express my heartfelt appreciation to His Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, Governor of Rivers State, for his unwavering commitment to improving the health outcomes of our great state. His leadership and guidance have been instrumental in steering the health sector towards excellence.
“Specifically, I wish to commend His Excellency for approving and releasing the sum of 126 million naira for the procurement and last mile distribution of essential family planning commodities, in addition to capacity building of FP service providers, and community mobilization for demand generation.
“These commodities include:Long-acting agents like Mirena intrauterine devices (IUDs) and implants (Levoplant contraceptives) for women who desire to space their births for longer periods.Shorter-acting and barrier methods like Male condoms, Depo-Provera, the 3-monthly contraceptive injections for reproductive and family health.Family Planning has been shown to contribute to the reduction of maternal, infant, and child mortality, as well as accelerate economic growth and development.
“Access to contraceptives is recognized to play a key role in the achievement of national and international development goals including the Sustainable Development Goal 3, FP2030 targets and objectives and harnessing the demographic dividend.
“For every naira invested in family planning and maternal health in developing countries, the benefits to families and societies are exponential. To ensure the effective utilization of these commodities, His Excellency has also supported residential capacity-building training for health workers on the use of these commodities, as well as community mobilization for demand generation.
“Additionally, the state will be supporting FP last mile commodity distributions from the State Central Medical Stores to the 331 facilities that offer FP services in Rivers State.According to available data from Nigeria’s National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) of 2018, the current national contraceptive prevalence rate stands at 17%, and Rivers State is at 19.6%, as the country aims to achieve a CPR of 27%.
“In Nigeria, sustainable Financing for family planning is acknowledged as the responsibility of all three tiers of government (Federal, States and LGAs). However, the Federal Government has hitherto been responsible for most of the domestic resources contributed for procurement of contraceptives.
“In recent times, due to insufficient resources, funding gaps for procurement have widened significantly, leading to massive stock-outs of FP commodities in health facilities.
“The Rivers State government under the dynamic and able leadership of Governor Siminalayi Fubara has demonstrated leadership and commitment by facilitating this unprecedented release for the procurement of family planning commodities to further address the wide gap in funding for FP commodity procurement.
“This is with a view to increasing modern contraceptive prevalence rate, reducing the unmet need for family planning and consequently reducing maternal, infant, and child mortality in Rivers State.”
