By Tina George, Minna
The Coalition of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) under the Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health (PACFaH@Scale) has observed that if the Niger state health Costed Implementation Plan (CIP) is implemented, 2,500 maternal deaths, 90,000 abortions and 250,000 unintended pregnancies would be averted.
The CSO made this disclosure in Minna during a press conference to commemorate the World Population Day.
The Leader of the Coalition, Dr. Aliyu Yabagi Shehu urged government to keep to its commitment to increase Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CRP) from 6.6 per cent to 25 per cent by 2020 with a state vision for family planning in the Niger state Costed Implementation Plan (CIP).
“The CIP interventions if implemented is expected to avert 250,000 unintended pregnancies, 90,000 abortions and 2,500 maternal deaths within 2018 to 2020. This will create demographic dividend that boosts economic growth and breakout from the cycle of poverty,” he said.
Shehu, who is the Niger state Coordinator of the Center for Communication and Reproductive Health Services (CCRHS) stressed the need for the state government to do more for increased funding and access to family planning services and reducing inequalities.
He lamented that the budgetary allocation for family planning in the 2019 budget had fallen by 75 percent, stating that this had raised the concern of CSOs over government’s 2020 family planning commitments.
Shehu on behalf of the CSOs called on the state government to show more commitment toward tackling the rising population growth by ensuring that people in communities have access to healthcare information, family planning contraceptives and ensure the appropriation and timely release of funds for family planning services.
Also speaking, the Niger state Family Planning Coordinator, Nurse Dorcas Talatu Abu said that family planning is a strategy that would reduce population explosion and maternal mortality.
She stressed the need for the people to embrace child spacing and family planning.
“Family planning is the only solution that can be used to solve population explosion. There are consequences in not funding family planning.”
