Gombe encourages Journalists to sensitise public on benefits of child spacing

The Gombe State Ministry of Health has encouraged journalists in the state to sensitise the public on the importance and benefits of child spacing to a family and the community as a whole.

Read Also: Child spacing gains more acceptance in Gombe

The Commissioner, Dr. Habu Dahiru, said this during a Media roundtable, organised by Development Communication Network (Devcoms) and the Challenge Initiative in Gombe.

He said it had become important for the public to know that child spacing does not intend to stop families from having so many children, but that spacing the births would enhance the lives of the family members.

Dr. Dahiru said journalists needed to convince the people, through radio programmes, and dissuade from holding firmly to traditional and socio-cultural beliefs that deny them access to child spacing services for the overall wellbeing of their families.

“It is not that you should not have children, you can have as many as one million, just space it in such a way and the manner that the woman recovers before her next pregnancy, the child is big enough to take care of himself before his younger one comes. That is the whole idea,” Dr. Dahiru said.

Dr. Dahiru also said part of the sensitisation to be carried out by the press should include the enlightenment of the men, grandmothers and other family members with strong influence within the family, especially those who often see child spacing as an area reserved for only women.

“There is a lot of ignorance, so we must use sensitisation, demand generation and advocacy group. They work together. When these things are done, you will see the result. The point of entry try should e from the communities, the religious groups. We sensitise them we give them the concept, they accept the concept, they are convinced, if we move to the hospitals,” Dr, Dahiru said.

He attributes low uptake of Child Spacing to hospital sensitisation only, thereby encouraging outside hospital child spacing services.

The State Coordinator of Development Communication Network,

Devcom, Mr. Alhassan Yahya, praised the contributions of the state government and other stakeholders towards the increase in the uptake of Child Spacing Services in Gombe State.

However, Mr. Yahya was concerned about the issue of sometimes having child spacing commodities out-of-stuck, which had led to women of childbearing ages not been able to subscribe to any of the available services.

He also observed some funding gaps, which although had increased from 4% to 17%.

“But if you look at that (Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey) IDHS Report, it shows that our unmet needs are a bit high. Our CPR is 17. I think in the whole 19 Northern States, no state has performed more than like Gombe State. And I want to believe that it is a result of our collective efforts, especially media, civil societies, major stakeholders for giving us the opportunity to meet you, discuss with you advocate to you by creating more budgetary allocation, as well as releasing certain funds that are into various interventions,” said Mr. Yahya.

He said the focus was now on trying to bridge the gap for the 17% unmet needs, through awareness creation, mobilization, so that people within the reproductive age would know the importance of child spacing in the state.

Mr. Yahya appealed to the Gombe State Commissioner for the release of the 66 million budgeted in the 2021 Budget for the Ministry of Health, Primary Health Care Development Agency and the 11 local government, so it would reduce the unmet needs and at the same reduce maternal mortality by about 40%.

He equally appealed to the Ministry of Health, as well as the Primary Health Care Development Agency for the creation of radio programmes to enlighten the public on its benefits and increase the uptake of Child Spacing services in the state.

The Representative of the Challenge Initiative, TCI, Alhaji Yakubu Usman Abdulrahman, said the organisation was interested in working with states that had the commitment, with the programme taking-off in June this year in Gombe State.

He said the Expression of Interest had been done and now the level of the project design was being drafted, saying the project has a budget, which would consider the needs of the state, as well as the contributions of other partners, to avoid duplication.

Alhaji Abdulrahman said the essence of the meeting with stakeholders was to introduce TCI, especially through the use of the media in publicising activities of that nature.

He said the activities of TCI would focus on Research Monitoring and Evaluation, Service delivery, Demand Generation and Advocacy and Coordination, in which the media would be involved in demand generation to enhance quality and the projection of silent voices.

Executive Secretary, Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Adulrahma Shu’aibu, said the Gombe State Government was doing a lot in funding Child Spacing Services, with about 25 million naira being budgeted for it and completed y other partners.

Dr. Shu’aibu said he was delighted that another partner, TCI, was joining the others to support the states in the area of Child Spacing.

He said some of the facilities still experienced challenges, despite the high uptake in Child Spacing Commodities being witnessed across the state.

“We do experience sometimes stockout of commodities in those facilities and we do experience problems with logistics.  These are problems that are surmountable and with TCI coming into Gombe, I am sure some of these challenges will be ameliorated,” Dr. Shu’aibu said.