Family Planning: Stakeholders Lament Non Release of Funds in Niger
Stakeholders in the health sector have said that the non release of budgetary funds meant for the Family Planning Programme in Niger State had affected its implementation.
The State Coordinator of the Niger State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Mrs Dorcas Talatu, who made this known during a one-day stakeholders’ meeting on child spacing organised by Pathfinder International Nigeria in Minna on Tuesday, noted that despite the Niger State Government’s recent approval of N10m out of the N50m allocated to Family Planning, no funds were released.
Talatu also said that there was an unfulfilled need for Family Planning information and services in the state.
“Survey data indicates that nearly one in six (16 per cent) married women aged between 18 and 49 years would like to space or limit future childbirths, but they are not using any contraceptive method,” she said.
She also said the Contraceptive Prevalent Rate was 6.6 per cent, with the modern method and traditional methods attaining 5.6 per cent and one per cent, respectively.
Speaking at the event, the Country Director of Pathfinder International, Dr Faruk Jega, who was represented by Dr Sakina Bello, said the programme would run in 12 pilot states till 2020.
The Country Director noted that the objective of the workshop was aimed at getting participants to acquaint themselves with the Pathfinder Advance Family Planning project to meet the Federal Government’s target of 27 per cent for family planning projects.
By: Enyioha Opara, Minna
The Punch News
