By Emelda Odor
Kaduna (Nigeria) — It is critical that Kaduna State Government creates a budget line for family planning, just as obtained at its local government level.
Kaduna State Team Leader of Nigeria Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI), Kabir Abdullahi reiterated this position to stakeholders on Health in Kaduna, northwest Nigeria.
He described contraceptives as life saving commodity which can help governments reduce maternal death, because it is a health promoting and diseases prevention commodity.
Mallam Abdullahi stressed that if contraceptives are used for child spacing, there would be increased chance of survival of a woman, in about thirty per cent and reduce maternal mortality by thirty-five-to-forty per cent.
According to him, contraceptives will avert abortions, excessive bleeding, hypertensive disorder and women with prolong pregnancy.
“Evidence from the National Demographic Health Survey Analysis of about twenty-four Countries has showed that contraceptives are a life serving commodity. The survey also indicated that the longer the space birth the lower the cases of maternal mortality” he said.
“l therefore call on the religious leaders in Nigeria to help educate the general public, especial those in their domains in the language they will understand to involve in child spacing contraceptives”.
Also speaking, the National Co-ordinator of Civil Society for Family Planning in Nigeria, Mr. Wale Adeleye said the seminar was to look at problems associated to family planning commodity, the way forward and how to engage the government to reduce death mortality by using contraceptives.
He emphasized that a Nation that embraces family planning will achieved demographic dividend because it will reduce death rate, birth rate while such country will have a working age population than the dependent population.