Family Planning: NGO supports 68 healthcare centres in Sokoto
Marie Stopes International (MSI) Nigeria Reproductive Choices, an NGO, has equipped 68 healthcare centres with Family Planning (FP) equipment to enhance services in Sokoto State.
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The MSI’s Northwest Regional Manager, Mrs Suwaiba Abubakar, disclosed this at the dissemination meeting of Women integrated Services for Health (WISH) extension on Friday in Sokoto.
Abubakar said, “The healthcare centres are in 19 local government areas of the state, where MSI Nigeria built the capacity of healthcare personnel, leveraged on existing services and provided clinical tools.
“Other supports included the provision of consumables for long term and short term contraceptives, insertions kits, equipment to enhance women access to quality services.”
She added that the bulk of the support activities centered around improving clinical and data quality, demand generation, as well as commodity logistic management.
She said efforts were also geared toward strengthening the public sector and overall FP services and effective data management through record keeping.
The regional manager explained that under human centered design, tea vendors and their wives were supported and trained in FP knowledge and referral in their respective settlements.
Abubakar noted that the dissemination meeting was to showcase achievements recorded, highlight areas that require alignment, as well as sustenance.
The manager urged government to provide more FP commodities in health facilities to address cases of stokckout and fine-tune harmonious ways to stop trained workers transfers.
She described stockpot and indiscriminate posting of healthcare workers as a challenged in FP activities in the state.
She said, “FP services enable individuals to make choices on their Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR), thus it should be promoted.”
Earlier, the Special Adviser to Gov. Ahmad Aliyu on Primary Healthcare, Alhaji Garba Manager, lauded MSI Nigeria for the support and assured state government’s commitment toward safeguarding peoples’ lives.
A beneficiaries on MSI services, Amina Adamu, a resident of Gagi in Sokoto South Local Government Area, said she benefited with health talks that led her to access FP services which impacted her life.
Adamu, the mother of five, said she got married 20 years ago and initially continued to have children at short intervals, but with MSI Nigeria’s intervention, she was able to plan, space her birth well.
