NIGER State health facilities are currently experiencing shortages in Family Planning commodities, following the increase in the campaign for Family Planning in the state.
The Executive Director, Niger State Primary Health Care Development Agency (NSPHCDA), Dr Ibrahim Ahmed Dangana, disclosed this when the Centre for Communication and Reproductive Health (CCRHS) and the Team Lead of Niger State PAS Coalition Comprising of CCRHS and FOMWAN, Dr Aliyu Yabagi Shehu, paid a courtesy visit to the agency.
According to him, this is evident in the large number of women who visit Primary Health Care centres to access services.
While decrying inadequate funding of the agency, Dr Dangana said by the law establishing the agency, it needs 15 per cent of revenue allocation from the 25 local government areas of the state for operational support.
He lamented that rather than the designated 15 per cent accrued for the agency by law, it gets less than N2.5million from a few LGAs monthly.
Dangana said more funds will help to strengthen the implementation of the Primary Health Care Under One Roof (PHCUOR) policy and enhance the achievement of universal health coverage.
He called on Civil Society Organisations and the Media to help the agency in advocating for the timely release of funds to improve PHC services.
Earlier, the Project Director, CCHRS, Dr Yagbagi Shehu, said the visit was to deliberate on the state of the agency’s Governing Board and Routine Immunization (RI) Task Force Committee; and to explore possible ways in which the advocacy outfit can support the agency.
In a related event, Dr Dangana disclosed at a Service Delivery Technical Working Group monthly meeting in Minna, that the importance of Family Planning cannot be underscored, as areas of Health Care, Education, Feeding and Clothing are better managed with Child Spacing or Family Planning.
According to him, “As a result of the increasing number of women visiting the Family Planning Service Delivery Points, facilities are experiencing acute shortage of commodities.
“In Niger State, the programme has recorded significant progress, particularly during the COVID-19 lockdown, where Service Delivery Points in PHCs rose from 222 to 527.
During the Service Delivery Technical Working Group monthly meeting, the State Family Planning Coordinator, Mrs Dorcas Abu, stated that despite the successes achieved under the programme, the state is still faced with the challenges of funding, inadequate skilled providers, inadequate supply of consumables, poor male involvement, difficulty in reaching the larger population of the state in hard-to-reach areas with bad roads and poor communication network and insecurity.