By Longtong Ibrahim
Kaduna (Nigeria) – Kaduna state government have been tasked to increase its budget allocation for family planning by making the right investment to enable it meet up with the national blueprint of increasing the usage of family planning from 15 percent to 36 percent by 2018.
Lack of public sector funding in Kaduna state, both at state and local government area levels for family planning commodities and programs is one of the key barriers to access for women in the state.
This was the position of media practitioners present at a media workshop on family planning/child birth spacing organized by the Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI) in Kaduna, North-west Nigeria.
Communiqué issued at the end of the workshop stressed the need for a timely release of allocated funds in the local government areas for family planning budget line, which if promptly release will help the state realize its blueprint goal of – increase contraceptive prevalence from 24.4% to 46.5% by 2018. It also added that, realizing the goal would save lives of mothers and children while promoting economic development at all levels.
They also called on the Local Government councils to increase the budget allocation for family planning from the current two million to five million naira to ensure its uptake and effectiveness at the grassroots.
While charging the government to adequately equipped and manned all PHCs in the state with qualified personnel, they also called for an immediate take off of Primary Health Care Under One Roof (PHCUOR) policy by bringing together all the components of the Agency under one management.
They however urged journalist to take interest on budget tracking and report adequately on health financing.
