Despite joint efforts by national and international partners to provide accessible family planning services in Nigeria, healthcare providers are struggling with a lack of clinical supplies necessary for effective family planning service delivery in Sokoto state.
This situation has forced healthcare facilities to rely on clients to purchase these items by themselves, thereby worsening the financial burden on the already existing hardship being faced mostly by the downtrodden across the state.
According to some family planning service providers within Sokoto, the lack of non-consumables like gloves, syringe, gauze and more, is impeding the ability of health facilities to meet the reproductive health needs of their communities.
In an interview with ASHENEWS, Binta Idris, a family planning service provider at Gagi Primary Healthcare Centre, expressed concern over the problem, stating, “…Like on the part of insertion method, there are some supporting equipment that are not usually packed with available consumables brought down to us. So we do charge clients some little amount or prescribe to them to get it by themselves.”
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“The most annoying thing is, in most cases, this is destroying the trust between us and the clients; they think we are just trying to extort them, because for them, the services are free. This is a gap that needs to be bridged,” Idris stated.
Clients, who are bearing the heat, shared their experiences of grappling with the purchasing power of the non-consumable. Hauwa’u Usman, a mother of three, recounted her struggle to afford the necessary supplies. “I rely on the clinic for family planning services, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to access them when I am asked to foot the bill for essential items. Many families like mine simply cannot afford it.”
During an outreach to Dange local government of Sokoto state, the FP service provider at the MPHC Dange, Asabe Dauda, confirmed to ASHENEWS the increased number of clients adopting family planning practices. She however expressed dissatisfaction on the lack of some clinical supplies which hamper effective delivery of FP services.
“The flow of the clients now grows dramatically compared to the previous years. But the problem is the issue of non-consumables, the cost implications of getting those supplies like hand gloves and others is too much for them. We do see that on their face,” she confirmed
In collaboration with DevComs, the outreach was facilitated by The Challenge Initiative (TCI), an international donor, aimed to improve access to quality family planning and reproductive health services in low and middle-income countries. This was headed by the state coordinator of the initiative, Dr. Bello Kilgori and two programme officers from the state.
Adding to the dialogue, a maternal child health coordinator at Dange, Jummai Haruna commended the combined efforts of TCI and the state government, stating that the collaboration between the two has yielded positive outcome on demand generation and near-effective service delivery.
The chairman of the board of trustees of the Association of Advancement of Family Planning in Nigeria, Mr. Sani Umar Jabbi, underscored the implications of the crisis of the clinical supplies, while suggesting ways to curbing the existing plight.
“This is very unfortunate. It is mostly because it is a donor-driven effort,” he says. “Government needs to take over family planning. It is not only a partners’ responsibility; partners are just supporting government. There is a need to have a political will in financing and budgeting the activities of family planning,” he suggested.
The non-affordability of clinical supplies by most FP clients is a critical gap in healthcare system that persists in Sokoto communities.
Addressing these challenges requires sustained effort of government, and deep collaboration among stakeholders to ensure that every individual has access to the care and support they need to fulfil their family planning journey.
Failure to do so not only undermines efforts to promote quality service delivery and sustainable development but also threatens the health and well-being of future generations.
