NAN commits to raise awareness on reproductive healthcare

UNFPA seeks media support on reproductive healthcare
By Talatu Maiwada
Partnership
Abuja, Sept. 12, 2018 (NAN) Dr Mabingue Ngom, the Regional Director, West and Central Africa Office, has called on journalists to support and promote reproductive healthcare and demographic dividend issues for national development.
Ngom made the appeal during a visit to the Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
He solicited for a stronger partnership between UNFPA and media organisations to engage with stakeholders such as religious and traditional leaders in addressing issues of population in the country.
“The Millennium Development Goal recognises partnership and has been elevated in the 17th goal, so we recognise partnership as an objective that will help us reach out to different places we can’t go.
“It is important for organisations like the UNFPA and the News Agency of Nigeria to partner and engage local and traditional leaders in the country.
“This will go a long way in avoiding some of the misunderstandings, mis-interpretations and confusion among the larger communities.
“We have a vital role to play if we must make progress in Nigeria before 2030, because there is no way Africa can succeed and Nigeria does not succeed.
“We cannot have a better world without a better Africa,’’ he added.
Responding, Mr Bayo Onanuga, the Managing Director of NAN, pledged the agency’s commitment in raising awareness on UNFPA’s transformative agenda, including delivery of Demographic Dividend (DD) in the country.
Onanuga also promised to raise public awareness on the three key three key thematic areas of UNFPA; namely: ending maternal deaths, unmet needs on Family Planning (FP) and Child Spacing (CS) and Gender Based Violence (GBV) in line with SDGs 2030.
He said that NAN was committed in ensuring a strong partnership with the organisation in championing the interest of women, girls and young persons in the country.
He stated that due to the importance of reproductive healthcare issues, the agency had designated a specialised desk that addresses the issues of women and children.
“Part of your mandate in UNFPA is concerned with delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, where every child birth is safe and every young person’s potential will show.
“Our agency is committed to all UNFPA stands for and all your campaigns on reproductive healthcare.
“Following the mandate of your organisation is something any news organisation would definitely like to partner with,’’ he said.
Onanuga noted that NAN was the right media to partner with as it has offices in all parts of the country with no fewer than 500 journalists.
He said that most media organisations subscribe to NAN for news text, pictures, audio and video clips, adding that some subscribers translate NAN news into local languages for local communities.
The managing director expressed the agency’s desire to deepen relationship with UNFPA in addressing issues of demographic dividend, population growth and reproductive healthcare.
Also speaking, Mr Mohammed Tola, the Head of Health and Gender Desk of NAN, appreciated the partnership and intervention of UNFPA in the provision of operational equipment to the agency.
However, Tola called on UNFPA to scale up its funding and technical support to the agency in order to build a robust relationship to enable NAN deliver better services.
“The funding support has drastically dropped from N10 million in 2015 to about N3.6 million this year, which is yet to be accessed.
“This is adversely affecting our working relationship.
“From January this year till date we have covered and published not less than 30 of UNFPA’s intervention activities across the country from the three approved in our agreed Annual Work Plan (AWP).
“`We therefore call for a scale up in funds to strengthen our partnership towards effective delivery of services to UNFPA,’’ he said. (NAN)
TIM/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola