Only 1 in 5 public health facilities offer FP services – Association

Only 1 in 5 public health facilities offer FP services – Association
By Talatu Maiwada
Planning
Abuja, April 9, 2018 (NAN) The Association for the Advancement of Family Planning (AAFP) says only one in five or 20 per cent of public health facilities in Nigeria offer Family Planning (FP) services and products.
Prof. Oladapo Ladipo, President, AAFP, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja.
Ladipo said that the low level of contraceptive use contributed to poor maternal and child health status among Nigerians and also accounts for high total fertility rate of almost six children per woman.
He added that the high total fertility rate of almost six children per woman in Nigeria impacted negatively on the high population growth rate of 3.18 per cent.
“Evidence from the demographic and health survey indicates that Nigeria has not recorded significant improvement in its FP uptake over the past 10 years.
“Contraceptive prevalence rate has remained the same at 10 per cent for the past 10 years with a marked difference between the urban cities at 17 per cent and rural areas at six per cent.
“There is also a wide regional variation of contraceptive prevalence rate across the geopolitical zones.
“25 per cent of married women aged 15 to 49 years in South West currently use modern contraceptive, while less than three per cent of women in the North East are current users of modern contraceptive methods,’’ he said.
Ladipo defined FP as a way that allowed individuals and couples anticipate and attain their desired number of children with spacing and timing of their births through the use of contraceptive methods.
According to him, FP has been universally recognised as one of the key pillars and most cost-effective means of achieving safe motherhood.
The AAFP president noted that the woman’s ability to space and limit her pregnancies had a direct impact on her health and wellbeing, the outcome of each pregnancy and consequently, the economy.
Ladipo called on the Federal Government to increase fund allocation to health as evidence from research showed that successful FP programmes could contribute to about 30 per cent reduction in maternal and child mortality. (NAN)
TIM/COF/MST
Edited by Oluyinka Fadare/Muhammad Suleiman Tola