Marie Stopes International (MSI) Nigeria Reproductive Choices, an NGO, has equipped 68 healthcare centres with Family Planning (FP) equipment to enhance services in Sokoto State.
The MSI’s Northwest Regional Manager, Mrs Suwaiba Abubakar, disclosed this at the dissemination meeting of Women Integrated Services for Health (WISH) extension on Friday in Sokoto.
Abubakar said the healthcare centres are in 19 local government areas of the state, where MSI Nigeria built the capacity of healthcare personnel, leveraged existing services and provided clinical tools.
Other supports included the provision of consumables for long-term and short-term contraceptives, insertion kits, and equipment to enhance women’s access to quality services.
ALSO READ: Stakeholders urge pharmacists to innovate for UHC achievement
She added that the bulk of the support activities centered around improving clinical and data quality, demand generation, as well as commodity logistic management.
She said efforts were also geared toward strengthening the public sector and overall FP services and effective data management through record keeping.
The regional manager explained that under human-centered design, tea vendors and their wives were supported and trained in FP knowledge and referral in their respective settlements.
Abubakar noted that the dissemination meeting was to showcase achievements recorded, and highlight areas that require alignment, as well as sustenance.
The manager urged government to provide more FP commodities in health facilities to address cases of stockout and fine-tune harmonious ways to stop trained workers transfers.
ALSO READ: Cancer: FG, NSIA sign MoU to improve oncology care
She described stockout and indiscriminate posting of healthcare workers as a challenge in FP activities in the state.
She said FP services enable individuals to make choices on their Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR), thus it should be promoted.
Earlier, the Special Adviser to Gov. Ahmad Aliyu on Primary Healthcare, Garba Manager, lauded MSI Nigeria for the support and assured state government’s commitment toward safeguarding people’s lives.
A beneficiary of MSI services, a resident of Gagi in Sokoto South Local Government Area, Amina Adamu, said she benefited from health talks that led her to access FP services which impacted her life.
Adamu, the mother of five, said she got married 20 years ago and initially continued to have children at short intervals, but with MSI Nigeria’s intervention, she was able to plan and space her birth well.
She said “My husband and I were able to plan our income, ensure quality education for children, good feeding and other needs.
“I am now a community mobiliser for couples to access FP services, and enrolled into continuing education and empowerment training at Women Development Centre in Sokoto.”
A physically challenged man and one of the tea vendors trained by MSI Nigeria residing in Dange Local Government Area, Shehu Yusuf-Gurmu, also expressed delight over the MSI services.
ALSO READ: Stakeholder review sanitation policies for domestication in Bauchi
Yusuf-Gurmu explained that from a good understanding of MSI Nigeria’s intervention, he was able to clear misconceptions, disinformation and other myths about FP services and more people were accessing the services.
Another beneficiary, Malam Ibrahim Sani, a resident of Mabera in Sokoto metropolis, appreciated MSI Nigeria’s FP services.
Sani, the father of four children from two wives, reaffirmed his commitment to mobilize more people and many of his friends and associates to obtain the right FP information.
The event featured discussions, question and answer sessions and experiences from participants shared.
(NAN
