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Tag: family planning

  •  ‘Prevent child, maternal mortality with family planning’

    The  Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria-Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health at Scale (PSN-PAS) project has said family planning remains key if the country is to genuinely address the issue of maternal and child mortality. Speaking yesterday, Mr. Ayuba Ibrahim, Programme Director, PSN-PAS posited that access to safe, voluntary child spacing is a human Right which empowers women and help support optimal health decision- making.

    Ibrahim who was represented by Dr. Edwin Akpoto, PSN-PAS, Senior Programme officer, added that family planning is key to safe motherhood. He said, “Family planning is universally acknowledged as one of the key pillars of safe motherhood. We want to reaffirm that family planning is one of the most cost-effective ways to prevent maternal, infant, and child mortality as it can reduce maternal mortality by reducing the number of unintended pregnancies, the number of abortions, and the proportion of births at high risk.

    “Access to safe, voluntary child spacing information and services is a human right which will empower women and help support optimal health decision-making for themselves and families, thereby helping to strengthen communities and lay the groundwork for a more prosperous, just and equitable future. Unfortunately, many women in Nigeria lack access to quality healthcare, including sexual and reproductive health services.” He was however hopeful that the country could achieve the 27% target with concerted efforts by all.

    Ibrahim also advocated the need to equip the private sector Community Pharmacists (CPs) and the Patent and Proprietary Medicines Vendors (PPMVs), saying “We are convinced that this will be a fruitful strategy to reducing the unacceptable maternal, child and adolescent mortalities from preventable pregnancy and childbirth related causes. “We are optimistic however we need concerted efforts and innovation to achieve this goal. One of the innovations is to properly train and empower Community Pharmacists and Patent & Proprietary Medicines Vendors to provide expanded child spacing services,” he said.

     

  • Why is family planning a taboo for Nigeria youths?

    In my first year at university, my roommate and close friend Kathy inadvertently became pregnant. She was only 18. The daughter of a religious leader and a promising student, she had her whole life ahead of her. But she was unready to be a mother and feared the stigma of an unplanned pregnancy. So she tried to end the pregnancy herself.

    She lost her life in the process.

    It’s been more than eight years since the day I lost Kathy. And yet after all this time, not enough has changed for Nigeria’s youth when it comes to taboos, shame, contraceptives and unplanned pregnancies.

    The truth is young women across Nigeria are still regularly denied the basic tools and information they need to plan their lives and protect their health.

    I’ve seen the consequences first-hand in my work as a reproductive health advocate. Young women who become pregnant by mistake drop out of school, lose job prospects, and can be coerced into teenage marriages. Thousands more like Kathy die each year as they attempt to hide their shame by seeking unsafe abortions. Left and right, futures are stolen by the burden of teenage pregnancy.

    The young women of Nigeria stand at over 10 million strong, and yet…

    At home, the topic of reproductive health is shrouded in taboo.

    At clinics, they are told they are too young to need contraceptives, or that the services they want are not available.

    Even at school, our girls are not taught about safe sex or the basics of fertility.

    And in adulthood, the situation doesn’t improve much. Across our country, only 14.7% of women who want to delay or prevent pregnancy are using a modern contraceptive method. Last year alone, over 1.1 million pregnancies in were unintended.

    I know our government officials are trying. Just two weeks ago, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said the country must take urgent steps to avoid a ‘time bomb scenario’ of unchecked population growth, highlighting the low rates of contraceptive use. But we need to be doing more to address the unique needs of youth. Unplanned pregnancies among young people undermine opportunities for education and employment, exacerbate poverty and perpetuate gender inequities. For the sake of Nigeria’s future, this needs to change.

    Over 900,000 teenagers give birth in Nigeria each year, the highest rate in sub-Saharan Africa. Imagine what our communities and our economy would look like if they had the chance to finish school and join the workforce instead?

    We need to give our young women the chance to choose to have smaller families, later in life, that they’re better able to support. We need to give them a chance to contribute to the social and economic development of our country. Because it is small changes like these that have the potential to shift the demographics of our country.

    We can give our youth a chance to make an impact. So many young women that I meet want to be a part of the movement that brings Nigeria toward the demographic dividend and helps our economy grow. And with a population of over 10 million young women, changing the trajectory of their lives can affect the entire nation.

    Our youth are not the only ones with unmet family planning needs. Around the world, thousands of advocates are gathering, calling for greater youth access to family planning as I write these words. Some are hosting events in their home countries today in recognition of World Contraception Day, while others are preparing to travel to Kigali, Rwanda in November for the 2018 International Conference on Family Planning. Together, they are starting a global movement I ardently support.

    But nothing will change if we relegate these conversations to isolated events and conferences held at a safe distance. We need you to join us now, here in Nigeria, in making an investment in our shared future.

    If you are a parent, consider the life opportunities your daughter, who is sexually active (or who is in an intimate relationship) might have if you give her your blessings by ensuring that she receives comprehensive information on contraception and preventing unintended pregnancy.

    If you are a health care provider, consider how many lives you can change if you offer counseling and services to youth.

    And if you are a politician or leader, consider what young people can do for our country if you support their access to a range of family planning options. Nigerian policies do a good job of acknowledging the importance providing services to youth, but on the ground, significant gaps remain. For family planning services to be truly youth-friendly, they need to ensure young people have access to a variety of contraceptive options, without judgement, that they are able to afford. To help our young people succeed, we must commit to these efforts 100%, no less.

    My friend Kathy didn’t finish school. She didn’t start a career or get married or chase her dreams. Beyond the emotional loss her loved ones faced, the country lost something wonderful: the potential of a Nigerian girl poised to enter the world and give back to her country.

    Kathy’s story doesn’t have to be a common one. We can make it rare. We just need to ask ourselves: How will we support Nigeria’s youth in planning their families and their futures?

    I ask that you carefully consider your role and response. Your answer and your actions will determine the future for Nigeria’s girls, and for all of us.

    Jennifer Amadi is the Co-Founder and Program Advisor for Knit Together Initiative (KTI) and a 120 under 40 winner – new family planning leaders. She is the host of a World Contraception Day event taking place in Port Harcourt today. The event is one of 15+ satellite events happening around the world in the lead-up to the International Conference on Family Planning. For more information go to www.fpconference.com/2018.

  • ‘Family planning is beneficial to all’

    WHY should a married woman embrace family planning?

    Family Health and Nutrition Director, Lagos State Ministry of  Dr  Folashade Oludara says it will allow her to space the children she desires to have.

    Mrs Oludara spoke in Lagos when the members of Network of Reproductive Health visited her to know how the state is coping with demands and supplies for family planning commodities in the cafe of Global gag Rule (GGR).

    She said when a family is well- planned, the financial constraint on the family would be minimal, as the income would adequately cater for the number of members of the household.

    She debunked the myth that a woman’s strength and relevance are determined by the number of children she has, explaining that, “all those myths need to be addressed so as to save the mother from lack, sicknesses due to poor nutrition, and eventual death. Women should know the relevance of family planning services to themselves and  their homes, and these services are available across the state.”

    She said when a woman knows the benefits of planning her family; she will be able to contribute her quota to the home, especially the upbringing of her children, economically she will be empowered. She will not be wasting her blood, and live quality life. She will live longer, even for her children, and live to see her grand children.

    Mrs Oludara explained that cultural beliefs are some of the factors driving rejection of family planning services, “Why should our culture keep rejecting something good? Why such beliefs should be shortening the life of our women. A wise woman knows what to do in this Lagos State, a centre of excellence. We have our Family Planning Centres across the state from Primary Health centres, to general hospitals, specialist hospitals and even at LASUTH and private facilities. No point in dulling oneself and our health providers are highly skilled and keep confidential.”

    The director revealed that some members of staff in some of these centres have been harassed by spouses for carrying out family services on their wives, “as if those men bought the lives those women. As if those women are not humans that can decide for themselves. And that brings us to the issues of male involvement in family planning.

    ‘’As a directorate, we are also debunking these myths on family planning through awareness and making a head way, this is seen in the rate of acceptance, and increase in demands for different services and commodities. Men also follow their wives to some of these centres, to get information, and settle for an informed decision,” added Dr Oludara.

    The director also hinted on the step being taken to ensure adolescents who settled for such services are not derided or embarrassed. “We have identified health workers bias as a factor hindering acceptance of services among adolescents and we have aggressively addressed that. Orientation is changing now, and we are now telling providers to hail teenagers of consent age who walks into the facility to access the services. Such courage is not common, for such a teenager, to have decided to prevent pregnancy by accessing family planning services is a common sense thing, instead of going for unsafe abortion”.

    Mrs Oludara said before a girl walks in to any facility, she must have considered and weighed many things. “May be she cannot control herself. And while having sex, she wants to prevent pregnancy. Preventing pregnancy is far better than aborting a pregnancy. When you are aborting a pregnancy, you are actually killing a baby. And there is no moral justification for that. When preventing pregnancy you are protecting yourself from much heartache. Elsewhere in foreign lands, girls have appointment with gyneacologists by going for longer irreversible contraception, and the entire family is better for it, because the girl won’t be going for unsafe abortion. And she can decide on when to have her babies. And no future is ruined”.

    Mrs Oludara said ripple effects of having unplanned child include ripple effects of aggression on the child, domestic violence; lack of love, and eventually, societal decay.

    “Family planning allows for emotional and psychological preparation for babies. Years back we talked about Zip up. But most teenagers of consent age are not even zipping up again. As service providers, we cannot close our eyes to this reality. This development, and demands by teenagers for family planning services is real, and it is their right. Implementations of policies are the gaps that we have. Law of Reproductive health exists, and we are for it in Lagos State.  We are taking steps to review them. ”

    Dr Oludara said the  happy news is that the government is pumping a lot of money into the initiative, but if demand based on myth is hindering the uptake of these services it is no done deal. “It will amount to money down the drain. People need to believe in this intervention. Sex is a psychological thing. When the urge comes most people cannot control themselves but it doesn’t have to end in pregnancies. So preventive measures can be taken which are the contraceptives,” she said.

    She added: “That is what family planning is all about- to enjoy your life without the guilt of bringing forward children that are not planned nor be adequately catered for. This helps an average girl for instance to get education to a reasonable level, including higher institutions and professional qualifications, and live a good life. Unplanned pregnancy can truncate all these.”

    She praised the state for being proactive in reproductive health as it affects all.

    “We have Hello Lagos (a Reproductive Right Health and Sexuality Centre) where we counsel teenagers on reasons to embrace abstinence. And if not possible educate them on options available. We do not encourage abortion. But, we have seen cases involving post abortion care. And that is the more reason we double our effort to carry males, females along in our campaign irrespective of age.

    ‘’At the moment, we have piloted a Young mother unit at Oke Awo, recording over 200 participants. There we encourage them to deliver, go back to school, and eventually integrate them into the larger society. We have Call centres as well. I encourage all and sundry that are within the consent age to go for same”.

     

  • Include family planning right in constitution, group tells NASS

    The Centre for Communication and Social Impact (CCSI) has called for a constitutional amendment that would ensure family planning is listed as a basic and fundamental human right of Nigerians so they can determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children.

    In a statement issued in Abuja and signed by the Executive Director, Mrs. Babafunke Fagbemi, to commemorate the 2018, World Population Day with the theme: “Family Planning is a Human Right,” Fagbemi insisted the right to determine the spacing of children and access to information and availability of the full range of safe and effective family planning methods are fundamental to saving the lives of women and adolescents as well as a key factor in the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

    She said Nigeria still has 16 per cent Unmet needs for family planning and this is a result of the inability of many Nigerian women to access free and effective family planning method even though they would have wanted to. According to her, other factors which lead to the increase in Unmet needs include limited choices of contraceptives and a lack of support from partners and even the community.

    “These are the factors that have limited the vast majority of Nigerian women to access this right that is why we are calling on the National Assembly to look into the First Proclamation made at the United Nations International Conference on Human Right in 1968 which states that ‘Parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children,’ and enshrine same into our state laws.

    Read Also: Family planning ambassador advocates male involvement

    “The theme of this year’s World Population Day is speaking to the many myths and misconceptions about modern family planning methods, it is a direct attack on norms and cultures that seek to criminalize or ridicule those who have chosen to plan their family. The government and our lawmakers must rise up and play a key role in ensuring the well-being of Nigerian women and ensuring their human right to family planning is one way to go,” Fagbemi said.

    Stressing further, Fagbemi said to enjoy this right, the correct information in the appropriate language and education about the various choices available to women to be in control of their own fertility, must be made available nationwide.

    “We need to let people know that modern family planning method is safe and people can actually return to their fertility once they are ready. The United Nations Population Fund said the best way to ensure sustainable development is to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled, this is the goal we should work towards. But above all, we must tell them that it is their fundamental human right,” she said.

    The World Population Day is celebrated every July 11 since 1989 with different themes every year. The commemoration is targeted towards increasing awareness on world’s population explosion against the provision of basic infrastructure and calling attention to the importance of reproductive health and the well-being of women.

    This is apt at this time as Nigeria’s population, which was at 154.5million by the 2009 census has now increased to over 180million and is projected to hit 235million in 4years, despite the deficit in infrastructure and human capital development.

  • Family planning not for the unmarried – Mosunmola Adeleye

    Having been off the scene for almost three years, accountant turned actress and movie producer Mosunmola Adeleye is back on set. Today, the mother of one will be starting off the production of her new movie centered on the issues of young ladies making use of family planning before marriage.

    The movie aims to sanitise the society on seeking professional help before the application of certain medications will be shot in Abeokuta, Ogun State. The cast includes Madam Saje, Funsho Adeolu, Niyi Johnson, Seyi Edun and others.

    Revealing that the movie is based on a true story, Adeleye said: “This movie is written out of the permission of a close relative who narrated her story to me. It’s quite unfortunate how some ladies pick their careers ahead of everything else.

    “It is a story that is suitable for families; it will also enlighten a lot of people on the after effect of pills, injections and others that is taken without proper counselling from the professionals. The movie also has the approval of the ministry of health; it is an awareness project, so it got their approval when it was taken to them.”

    The actress who belongs to the Owolabi Films Production caucus in Abeokuta, Ogun State has produced other movies like ‘Alanu Kan Soso’, ‘Afori Forun’, ‘Kemi Afoju’, ‘Otelemuye’, and ‘Opon Ti sun.’

  • More Lagos women embrace family planning

    With a ratio of one in 13, Nigerian women are at an elevated risk of maternal deaths, compared to one in 26 in sub-Saharan Africa. This is why Daniel Adeleye’s report that family planning users in Lagos are on the rise, comes as cheery news.

    THE family planning clinics installed by the Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI) in some selected Primary Healthcare Clinics (PHCs) in Lagos State are gaining roots and yielding the desired results.

    To assist residents of the centre of excellence to attain quality lives, the NURHI in 2016 began a 72-hour renovation and equipping of family planning clinics in about 60 selected public health facilities in Lagos State under the aegis of NURHI 2.

    A tour of some of these facilities organised by an NGO, Development Communications (Devcoms) with some selected journalists of print, electronic and online platforms, showed that family planning in Lagos State is yielding the desired results among residents.

    At Dopemu Primary Health Centre, the clinic register showed that 275 residents of the area visited the PHC for family planning between January and March, 2018.

    The Community Health Extension Worker at the facility, Olamide Oladegun, confirmed this while interacting with journalists. She noted that the turnout of residents coming for family planning is shooting up with a minimum of ten users per day.

    Oladegun admonished women, especially nursing mothers, to endeavour to go for family planning immediately their babies clock six weeks, to avoid being pregnant while they are still breast feeding.

    She said some of the residents have “expressed their joy for adopting Family Planning because it has reduced mortality rates among them and helped them live up to their (desired) standard of living.”

    At Odunmbaku PHC in Orile Agege LCDA, the chief nursing officer, Abisola Badejo, stressed on the various family planning methods available for both male and female.

    Badejo said, apart from helping with the regular community dialogue, which has geared up the data of users in the Orile Agege area, NURHI has also helped in renovating the Odunmbaku PHC to make it more accessible for the clients’ flow.

    “Before I came to this facility in 2016, there was low turnout of users, but now with the help of NURHI 2, the number has shot up.”

    “Before NURHI’s intervention, we were having about 20 per cent but now we are having over 90 per cent. On a daily basis, we have at least ten people coming for family planning daily,” she revealed.

    Explaining the methods available at the facility, Badejo said, “We offer all family planning methods here in Odunmbaku PHC, except the permanent one, which is called vasectomy or tubal occlusion.

    “We offer the pills; we have for the breast-feeding mother and we have for the regular users. We have the injectable for two months, 200ml and the one 150ml taken every 3 months.”

    “We have implant, which we insert in the hand. We have for 3years, which is called ‘implanon’ and we have 5years which is called ‘jadelle’. There is another one which we call Inter Uterus Device, IUD, which we insert into the uterus,” she explained.

    Speaking on the benefits, the chief nursing officer said family planning helps women save money in terms of buying pads every month, adding that they will be able to space their children and have time for their husbands.

    “If a woman is on family planning, she may not menstruate and that does not mean the woman is pregnant.”

    Badejo flayed the belief that family planning predisposes women to cancer, saying cancer has hereditary factor, which family planning cannot expose a woman to.

    One of the users, who spoke to The Nation, Ramat Ganiyu, a 35-year-old mother of three, opined that family planning is the best source of happy home.

    Recounting her ordeal when she got pregnant for her second child, when her first was barely six months, Ganiyu said, “I went through hell. For that reason, I encourage nursing mothers to go for family planning before six weeks after delivery.”

    30-year-old mother of two, Temitope Rasheed, encouraged women to embrace family planning, saying she has been enjoying her marriage since she started using it.

  • ‘Benefits of family planning’

    Former Country Director, Ipas, an International Non- Governmental Organisation (NGO), Dr Ejike Orji, has listed the benefits of family planning, urging mothers to embrace it.

    In an interview, he said family planning is preferred to other contraceptive methods because it  secures the well-being and autonomy of women, and supports the health and development of communities.

    “Nigeria is precariously having dependant age groups more than the working/productive age bracket, with its resultant effects soon.  A woman’s ability to choose if, and when to become pregnant, has a direct impact on her health and well-being.Family planning allows spacing of pregnancies and can delay pregnancies in young women at increased risk of health problems and death from early childbearing.

    “It prevents unintended pregnancies, including those of older women, who face increased risks related to pregnancy. Family planning enables women, who wish to limit the size of their families to do so. Evidence suggests that women, who have more than four children are at increased risk of maternal mortality,” he said.

    Orji urged couples to embrace family planning beacuse it reduces unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortion.

    Orji added that family planning also reduces infant mortality, and  prevents closely spaced and ill-timed pregnancies and births, which contribute to some of the world’s highest infant mortality rates.

    “In the same vein, family planning reduces the risk of unintended pregnancies among women living with HIV, resulting in fewer infected babies and orphans. In addition, male and female condoms provide dual protection against unintended pregnancies and against sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV.

    “Family planning enables people to make informed choices about their sexual and reproductive health. Family planning represents an opportunity for women to pursue additional education and participate in public life, including paid employment in non-family organisations. Additionally, having smaller families allows parents to invest more in each child. Children with fewer siblings tend to stay in school longer than those with many siblings,” Orji added.

    Orji further said family planning  assists in reducing adolescent pregnancies. “Pregnant adolescents are more likely to have preterm or low birth-weight babies. Babies born to adolescents have higher rates of neo-natal mortality. Many adolescent girls, who become pregnant, have to leave school. This has long-term implications for them as individuals, their families and communities.

    “And a nation like Nigeria should aggressively accept family planning to slow population growth. This is because family planning is important to slowing unsustainable population growth and the resulting negative impacts on the economy, environment, and national and regional development efforts,’’ Orji said.

  • Group tasks journalists on family planning

    Following calls on stakeholders to step up towards reduction of Nigeria’s prevailing high mortality rate and population explosion, journalists have been tasked to join the fray by making family planning reportage a norm.

    This was the highlight of a two-day workshop for selected journalists from print, electronic and online media in Lagos, organised by Development Communications (DEVCOMS) network in collaboration with the Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative project 2 (NURHI 2).

    Speaking at the workshop, Programme Director, DEVCOMS, Akinlabi Jimoh, said in recognition of the critical role the media plays in agenda setting on issue of public interest, DEVCOMS and NURHI seek to enhance journalists’ knowledge about family planning and thereby enabling them to report from a holistic perspective.

    Jimoh observed that the current estimated population of 186 million Nigerians with an annual birth rate of about 2.5 percent, can be a huge burden with resultant poor health indices such as high maternal and infant deaths, if it is not put under check.

    The development-journalist charged Nigerian journalists to think out of box and evolve an in-depth way of reporting family planning issues by providing useful information on the audience, through a combination of compelling images and concise information that influence life-saving discussions.

    Speaking on the theme: Practical (writing compelling human angle stories on family planning) story idea development/action plan, Jimoh tasked journalists to relate stories to showcase issues or discuss a person in an emotional way, as to generate interest or empathy in the readers, viewers or hearers.

    “You must not just echo the problems, you should proffer solutions and put family planning on the front burner,” he said.

    In his own statement, the Lagos State Team Leader, NURHI, Omasanjuwa Edun, said Nigerians need to wake up and face the reality of population explosion which could draw the country backward among the comity of nations, if not controlled.

    Omasanjuwa charged the journalists to effect change in Nigeria and build a society that is worth living in.

    “The media has the ability to hold government accountable by pocketing their selfish ambition.

     

     

  • ‘More people embracing family planning’

    ‘More people embracing family planning’

    The Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI II), between November 2016 and October 2017, reached an additional 245,318 Lagosians in 10 Local Government Areas with the message of Child Birth Spacing (CBS).

    The Senior Programme Officer, Adewale Haastrup, who spoke at an event organised for about 200 Community Mobilisers in Ajeromi Ifelodun Local Government Area, said records showed that more Lagosians are receptive to CBS programmes.

    His words: “From what we have done in the field, it is evident that more Lagosians are appreciating family planning. We have also seen that they want us to bring the services to their doorsteps and that is what we have been doing in NURHI II.

    “We have seen that most government health facilities do not have the manpower to do this, and that is where we have come in. Our mobilisers go to the neighbourhood with megaphones, speaking directly to the people in their homes, and we have penetrated the inner corners of the councils we are working in. That is why we have been able to record more success.”

    Haastrup, however, said the project has not reached more than 10 per cent of Lagosians, and so NURHI is looking at new dynamics to fill in the gap. “We still have a lot to cover in Lagos State, that is why we are bringing in health educators from all the local governments to ensure continuity of our message,” he added.

    The Executive Director, Centre for Communication Programmes Nigeria (CCPN), Mrs. Babafunke Fagbemi said the mobilisers are critical to the success of the family planning campaign, noting that one of the reasons for the event was to appreciate the grassroots workers.

    “Without you, there is no result for NURHI II, you are the life and the engine of the project,” she added.

    CCPN, which is a principal partner organisation to NURHI II, has been providing strategic communication programmes aimed at social and behavioural changes.

    Mrs. Fagbemi, however, added that more would be required in the next three years to ensure that family planning discussions continue at household and community levels until it becomes a social norm, with the mobilisers playing a crucial role.

  • FG to launch new Family Planning Campaign

    FG to launch new Family Planning Campaign

    The Federal Government is set towards achieving its goals of decreasing maternal and infant morbidity and mortality rate by ensuring that about 7.3 million women have access to family planning in the country.

    The Director, Family Health Planning, Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), Dr Abebimpe Adebiyi, said during a news conference on Friday in Abuja sa that the campaign, would close the contraceptive gap in the country.

    The FMoH plans to do this with the use of a new National Family Planning Communication Campaign.

    Adebiyi noted that the fear of side effect, norms and belief, misconception among others were the major factors affecting the use of contraceptives in Nigeria.

    She also said that most Nigerians did not have the basic knowledge about the importance of family planning.

    “Years after the first National Family Planning Campaign was launched, Nigeria has remained stagnated.

    “The significant gaps still persist between knowledge and contraceptive use thereby creating marginal shifts in unmet needs for family planning in the country,”  she said.

    Adebiyi also said that the new campaign with ” The Green dot” would serve as the official marker for public and private locations where people can obtain family planning services that are Safe, affordable and effective in Nigeria.

    The Director, Media and Public Relations,FMoH, Mrs Boade Akinola, urged the media to address misconception about family planning by educating people on the effects and to promote empathy and understanding among men.

    Boade also called on the media to create awareness on other likely effects of lack of family planning like the socio-economic and health issues, to push the family planning issues to the mainstream agenda.

    “The media most often targets reproductive health programming at women or speak about family planning and other health issues at programs that target women.

    “However, evidence shows that the decision on whether or not to adopt family planning is made by the husbands,” She said.

    Boade, therefore, pointed out that men needed to also be educated on how to assist their spouses.

    She noted that promoting family planning is beyond profit making and it places a duty on any organisation or individual to act in the best interests of the environment in which it operates.

    The new campaign has a new logo, “a green dot.” it is simple, easy to describe, easy to remember and not Illustrative.