By Iliya Kure & Joseph Edegbo
Stakeholders on Child Birth Spacing in Kaduna, Northwest Nigeria, have advocated the creation of a recurrent budget line to fund activities like training of service providers, demand generation, forecasting and distribution of logistics, as well as supervision, monitoring and coordination to advance the cause of the programme in the state.
The State currently has a capital budget line for procurement of Reproductive Health/Child Spacing commodities and consumables. The capital line got allocations of N100 million in 2017 and N75 million in 2018 budget of the state.
The meeting which was organised by Family Health Advocates in Nigeria Initiative (FHANI) with support from Pathfinder International, had in attendance representatives from Kaduna State Drugs Management Agency (DMA), State Primary Health Care Development Agency (SPHCDA), Ministry of Health and Human Services (MoHHS), Planning and Budget Commission and the Media.
The meeting which acknowledges commitment of the State government to the programme, emphasised the need for increased funding of child spacing activities to cover all aspects of the programme and ensure services are delivered to women in need, especially at the grass root.
The participants also praised effort of Development Partners who indicated willingness to support the state government in the distribution of recently procured child spacing consumables but tasked the state government on the need to make funds available to the DMA for distribution of essential drugs currently kept at the medical stores to the last mile. This was to avoid wastage and drug expiration usually experienced.
Acting Chairman of FHANI, Alhaji Bala Muhammed Tijjani said, the meeting was meant to support the state government in its commitment of ensuring better maternal and child health indices through effective funding of its child spacing programme.
“Like the government, we are interested in safe motherhood and promotion of healthier families, hence our interest in budget allocation that will adequately address child spacing and all its components,” he said.
Also speaking, a member of FHANI, Suleiman Tanko, noted with concern the high maternal and child death rate in Nigeria, calling for strong political will, especially in northern Nigeria, which accounts for majority of the deaths.
Mr. Tanko posited that proper investment in child spacing can save a lot of women from unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions and deaths, adding that in return, it will increase productivity and economic status of the region.
“This is why FHANI is taking interest in this course; it will reduce mother and child mortality. We are advocating for government to provide more commodities and consumables, as well as other components.
“And to get that done, there is need for fund and this fund can only be provided for in the budget – creating enough budget line for the task in the budget document is our top concern”, he added.
In a paper, “Costed Implementation Plan” (CIP), Reproductive Health Programme Officer of Pathfinder International, Yusuf Nuhu, noted with delight investment by Kaduna State government in the procurement of child spacing consumables, but added, “more is needed due to the number of women who want to access services,” he said.
The CIP, a Kaduna State strategic multi-year planning document which covers 2016 – 2018 shows a detailed list of activities and cost for achieving a set goal of raising the states contraceptives uptake from 20% to 46.5%.
The activities highlighted include demand generation and behavioural change communication, staff and training, forecasting and distribution logistics, policy and financing, as well as supervision, monitoring and coordination.
According to the document, Kaduna State needed to invest a minimum of N888 million in 2018, but the state budget for same year allocated N75 million for the same cause, leaving a huge funding gap.
https://www.africaprimenews.com/2018/03/10/health/budget-tracking-child-spacing-advocacy-group-sets-pace-in-kaduna-northwest-nigeria/
