Longtong Ibrahim
Kaduna (Nigeria) – As activities of the Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI) Phase II kicks off in Kaduna State – north west Nigeria, health workers and other beneficiaries of their services have commended their presence and impact in improving contraceptive prevalence in the state.
During a facility tour recently embarked by a team of Journalist to Primary Health Care (PHC) facilities at Barnawa, Kudenda, and Sabo Tasha, suburb communities of Kaduna metropolis, it was noticed that the family planning units were all made over and supplied with family planning commodities at zero cost by NURHI so as to encourage the inflow of women in adopting child spacing.
According to the Family Planning provider heading the family planning unit in Kudenda PHC, Safiya Ibrahim, efforts of NURHI in encouraging adoption of family planning has triggered women’s turnout to the facility.
She said the organization has successfully trained providers and also provided family planning commodities in the clinic for free which include autoclave, sterilizer, weighing scales, plastic buckets, water drum, metal chairs, handbooks/guidelines and contraceptives among other items.
In the same vein, the provider with Sabon Tasha PHC, Florence Nwosu appreciated NURHI’s efforts at raising awareness about family planning among families as well as its provision of facilities free of charge.
She noted that an average of 20 women come in daily to access any of the family planning method, adding that the renovation of the family unit has made clients comfortable anytime they visit, hence encourage their turnouts.
Mrs. Nwosu added that, when a client comes as a first timer, she is been counseled and then educated on the advantages and disadvantages of each method before she makes her choice of method – the only thing expected of her is to register with the hospital for N300.
“One of our challenges here is that when there is no light, we use kerosene stove to work because we don’t have generator to generate power in order to sterilize our equipments and make work easier,” she lamented.
In the same vein, Ladi Kama, a family planning provider with PHC Barnawa noted that with NURHI’s intervention, they recorded an average inflow of 140 women monthly.
She however called on the government to provide more space for the family planning unit and also support NURHI’s activities.
Also during the visit quite a number of women were seen receiving counseling before proceeding to take up the contraceptive plan of their choice. Many of them commended the initiative and said it has assisted them to either limit their child bearing or space their births properly.
Family planning is referred to as Child Birth Spacing (CBS) in which couples make an informed decision on the desired number of children, space the birth and prevent unplanned pregnancy.
Methods of modern family planning include injectables, condoms, pills, implants, and Intrauterine Device.
NURHI II is a five year project, which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with the vision to eliminate supply and demand barriers to contraceptive use and make family planning a social norm in Nigeria.
