OGUN GOVT, GROUP BRAINSTORM TO STRENGTHEN FAMILY PLANNING ACTIVITIES

ABEOKUTA – The Ogun State Government, in conjunction with the State Advocacy Group, Family Health Initiative Ogun (FHIO), has finalized an arrangement in addressing bottlenecks on Reproductive health care which would assist the State in strengthening human and material resources for effective Family Planning (FP) services in the State.

This was part of the discussion at a meeting between the State advocacy working group, Family Health Initiative Ogun (FAHIO) and representative of the State government, held recently at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, towards improving the overall health of the family in the State, particularly at the period of child-bearing.

Speaking ,the Chairperson of FAHIO, Mrs. Kemi Balogun who described the right-based family planning as essential, which creates room for convenience child birth, saving lives, cost-effective and advancing economic growth, said the indices were achievable when government at all levels increase commitment to timely release of their budgeted fund, full integration of FP services into the appropriate health platforms, continuous recruitment and even distribution of skilled health care workers, capacity building for family planning providers and regular maintenance of health facilities.

According to Balogun, “All levels of government should realize that a major way to put an end to Maternal and Infants’ deaths, is by creating enabling environment for interested persons, particularly women of child-bearing age to access quality family planning services at public health facilities, and in achieving this, there must be constant release of allocated fund for family planning activities, such as provision of consumables, capacity building of FP providers, as well as continuous recruitment and even distribution of skilled health care workers, among others.”

Contributing, a member of the group, Mr. Olusegun Adesegun implored the government to pursue the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which was described as genuine package of activities to achieving good governance, while other members pointed out the need to invest more in the Adolescent and Youth Reproductive Health (AYRH) by improving on the Youth Friendly Centres and other related areas.

Responding, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Health, Dr. Kehinde Ololade, said the administration of Governor Dapo Abiodun has put efficient health care in the front burner, with larger percentage of the state’s budget devoted to the health sector, adding that policies and programmes that would have positive impact on wellbeing of the family would be accorded priority.

‘’This administration is concerned about the wellbeing of our people. Some of the Primary Health Care centres have just been renovated, while we are in the process of recruiting more personnel to address shortage of workers in our facilities. We will continue to push for more provisions of health care needs, in order to fulfill the state government’s promise in the delivery of efficient services delivery,” Ololade said.

The Governor’s aide assured that every stakeholders in the health sector of the state, including legislators, political functionaries, Civil Society Organizations, public officials, Local Government authorities and others, would be carried along, particularly in the implementation of ‘Adopt a Health care Centre’ policy of the present administration ‘’which I believe will address family planning needs in health facilities across the state, thereby increasing its uptake to meet the Contraceptive Prevalence Rates’ target and other reproductive health care issues’’, commending the advocacy strides of the group and pledged governments’ support at all times.