Source: All Africa
For Nigeria to achieve the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) government must take the issue of family planning and child spacing with all seriouness.
The Federal Capital Territory Cordinator of the Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI), Mrs. Salako Adebusola, said this last week at a press conference in Abuja during the NURHI-FCT Family Planning Advocacy Core Group.
She said Nigeria can only solve it's problem of massive unemployment, child labour and violent crises if it begin to give more attention to family planning.
"The Federal Government recently made family planning/child birth spacing commodities free, this is a welcome development.
"However a lot more is still required by funding in order to provide for other necessary requirements to achieve a successful family planning programme where every couple or woman should receive quality family planning services and the nearest facility in their communities," she said.
Salako said although women of reproductive age accounts for about 22 percent of the FCT population of over 1.8 million, they do not have full acess to family planning services that could protect them from preventable complications of high risk pregnancy and child birth, adding that the situation led to the death of about 2,000 women in the FCT.
In his remark, the Secretary of FCT Primary Health Care Development Board (PHCDB), Dr. Rilwan Mohammed, said the FCT administration has earmarked 30 million for the purchase of family planning commodities.
He called on the media, the traditional and religions leaders to help in sensitising the populice on the importance of family planning.
Also in their seperate remarks, the Baba Adinni of Bwari, Sheik Ibrahim Yusu and the Bwari Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev. Amos Tekulo, said both Islam and Christianity supported family planning.
They urged followers of both religions to embrace the practice because it is the only way to have a healthy family.