As part of effort to address challenges of accessing Family Planning (FP)/ Child Spacing Services, the Ogun state government has distributed consumables worth of N7 million to 100 high volume public health facilities in the 20 Local Government Areas of the State.
The consumables which consist of cotton wool, needles, syringes, plaster, surgical blades, disinfectants, among others which form part of the clinical items to offer effective Family Planning and Child Spacing services.
Speaking during the distribution of the consumables in Abeokuta, Elijah Ogunsola, the executive secretary of the State Primary Health Care Development Board, said the move would allow free access to FP services in public health facilities across the State, adding that this would prevent unauthorized charges to offer such services.
“This development will ensure that no public health facility has the moral justification to charge any client coming to access FP services. The Federal Government has made commodities available to the State while we have also gone further to ensure the availability of consumables for the provision of quality FP services at no cost.
“To successfully achieve this, the state had carefully identified and selected one hundred high volume public health centres where clients access FP services regularly, while commodities and consumables will be provided as demand increases”, he explained.
The medical expert emphasized that the State would continue to increase the awareness and encourage uptake of different FP/Child Spacing methods in order to achieve its 2020 Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) target as well as prevent unplanned pregnancies and maternal deaths, noting that the methods had proven to be cost effective to women and the society at large.
He urged private organisations and philanthropists to complement government efforts in the provision of FP consumables in their various communities to further reduce maternal mortality and morbidity rate in the State and country at large.
RAZAQ AYINLA, Abeokuta
