A Non-Governmental Organisation, Family Health Advocates in Nigeria Initiative (FHANI) has called for urgency in the release of N100 million naira appropriated for child spacing services in the 2017 budget of Kaduna State Government.
Speaking at an advocacy visit on Kaduna State Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr. Paul Manya Dogo the group said, with the first-half of the year gone, there was need for government to expedite action in the procurement of child spacing items specified in the budget.
Communication Officer of the Organisation, Hauwa Saulawa, said, the advocacy was premised on the need for government to take proactive steps in curtailing the high maternal deaths rate, of which Kaduna ranks high in the country.
She said with the scientific prove that child spacing reduces maternal death by almost 40 percent, there was no need for government to waste time in implementing its budgetary provision that seeks to address that.
Also speaking, Assistant Secretary of FHANI, Iliya Kure, praised the role played by the Ministry under the leadership of Dr. Dogo in the campaign for the budget line for child spacing in the state.
“The Ministry of Health and Human Services under your leadership has played a very vital role in ensuring the creation of child spacing budget line for procurement of commodities and consumables. So we came to say thank you for the role you played.
“We are also here on a follow-up for implementation, as we are already in the third quarter of the year.
“We understand that child spacing is key to maternal health, as what some of these women need is a simple rest; if their womb can rest, you are doing a lot of work in saving them; but even after CS, you see within 4 months or 3, there will be another pregnancy, which is very risky.
So, what we are promoting is for men to look through the risk of frequent pregnancy of their wives, for women to regain their strength after delivery, and for their children to grow to some reasonable level before another pregnancy — this is what we are advocating for” he added.
Mr. Kure said the Organisation is concerned that the budget process for 2018 has commenced without the release of a kobo from the child spacing money budgeted for in the 2017 budget.
The Organisation according to him wants the child spacing budget raised to N300 million in 2018, but first, “let us secure the N100 million allocated in this year’s budget.”
Responding, the Commissioner, Dr. Dogo assured that the Ministry is working tirelessly to see that as much as possible, the Ministry accesses the entire money that is budgeted for the child spacing services.
“If you look at the demand and the amount budgeted for child spacing, which is commendable, you can agree with me that it is inadequate. So we should be able to access all, so that we can demand for more in next year’s budget line.
“The Ministry will do what they can to scale the budget line which will be better justified if we have exhausted the approved budget line, so that we can be able to scale up the next budget line for family planning. It took us this long to be able to put up a request, our target is to see that no woman will be asked to pay for anything at the health facilities before she could be attended to or access health services.
“The first thing is for us to push for the release of the budget line fund, and once there is a release then we push for the cash backing.
