By: Felix Ikpotor
The Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara has approved the sun of One Hundred and Twenty Six Million Naira for the purchase if items for family planning in the state.
State Commissioner for Health, Dr Adaeze Oreh dis loses this during a statewide broadcast on Monday.
“My dear people of Rivers State,
I am delighted to express my heartfelt appreciation to His Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, Governor of Rivers State, for his unwavering commitment to improving the health outcomes of our great state. His leadership and guidance have been instrumental in steering the health sector towards excellence.
“Specifically, I wish to commend His Excellency for approving and releasing the sum of 126 million naira for the procurement and last mile distribution of essential family planning commodities, in addition to capacity building of FP service providers, and community mobilization for demand generation,” she said.
The commodities according to the Health Commissioner includes
long-acting agents like Mirena intrauterine devices (IUDs) and implants (Levoplant contraceptives) for women who desire to space their births for longer periods and shorter-acting and barrier methods like Male condoms, Depo-Provera, the 3-monthly contraceptive injections for reproductive and family health.
Stating the importance of family planning to family and public health, the commissioner said, “Family Planning has been shown to contribute to the reduction of maternal, infant, and child mortality, as well as accelerate economic growth and development.
“Access to contraceptives is recognized to play a key role in the achievement of national and international development goals including the Sustainable Development Goal 3, FP2030 targets and objectives and harnessing the demographic dividend. For every naira invested in family planning and maternal health in developing countries, the benefits to families and societies are exponential.”
To ensure the effective utilization of the commodities, Oreh said Governor Fubara has also supported residential capacity-building training for health workers on the use of these commodities, as well as community mobilization for demand generation.
Additionally, she said the state will be supporting FP last mile commodity distributions from the State Central Medical Stores to the 331 facilities that offer FP services in Rivers State.
Oreh added: “The Rivers State government under the dynamic and able leadership of Governor Siminalayi Fubara has demonstrated leadership and commitment by facilitating this unprecedented release for the procurement of family planning commodities to further address the wide gap in funding for FP commodity procurement.
“This is with a view to increasing modern contraceptive prevalence rate, reducing the unmet need for family planning and consequently reducing maternal, infant, and child mortality in Rivers State. The impact will include averting unintended pregnancies, preventing abortions, and averting maternal and child deaths”.
While thanking Governor Fubara for his vision and dedication to the health and well-being of the people of Rivers State, the commissioner said the government will continue to strive towards the reduction of maternal, infant, and child mortality, thus accelerating economic growth and development.
