The Lagos State Government has delivered 25 million worth of Family Planning commodities to last for five years and gave them to clients free of charge.
Presenting the commodities to the Lagos State Government at the Central Medical Stores in Oshodi, Lagos yesterday, 18th of February, the Programme Coordinator /Head of Office, UNFPA, Lagos Liaison Office, Ms Abbiall Msemburi, stated that the family planning commodities were procured by the Gates Foundation.
She explained further that the Lagos State Government is going to have $5 million worth of family planning commodities every year for five years, which amounts to 25 million dollars.
According to Msemburi, ” Through this five-year program, where the Gates Foundation has given 25 million family planning commodities to three states, including Lagos. “The Foundation is committed to ensuring the availability of family planning services for women and girls. “This is the first handover ceremony that is taking place; there will be more that will be taking place.”
She says, ” UNFPA, the United Nations Agency for Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights, is proud to be partnering with the Lagos State Government and the Gates Foundation to ensure all women and all adults, especially the hard-to-reach, have access to family planning services. “
“I would like to express UNFPA’s gratitude to the Gates Foundation for its commitment to ensuring the empowerment of women and girls through family planning,” she stated.
Msemburi, “We have been supporting the Federal Government of Nigeria as well as the Lagos State Government by ensuring the provision of technical support to family planning. “And when we’re talking about the last mile, we wanted to reach the last beneficiary that we intended to reach. We also make sure that our young people have access to sexual and reproductive health services as they may require them.”
Permanent Secretary in the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Olusegun Ogboye, represented by Dr Folashade Oludara, a Public Health Specialist currently heading the Family Health and Nutrition Directorate of the Lagos State Ministry of Health, lamented that uncontrolled fertility often results in uncontrolled population.
“While expressing the pleasure of love, every child must be brought up wanted, and so family planning gives that opportunity to prevent unintended pregnancy.
“However, in this very populated state, the government has been doing a lot. We are used to taking quarterly supplies from the Federal Government, which have been inadequate, but over the years, rs have been inadequate. Lagos State has also tried to match up with the gap, but the gap keeps increasing because of what we all know. “The insurgency in the country that brings everybody to Lagos and the ever-growing population.”
Ogboye explained further, ” Lagos State has over 31 million people. And when you talk of women of reproductive age group, there are 22 percent of that population, which is almost 7 million “.
” Analysing the figures, be stressed “You can imagine 7 million people with another 7 million sexually active males, We are talking about 7 million women, another 7 million sexually active males. Impregnating the 7 million people, like three to four times, if reproductive health is not controlled, if fertility is not controlled “.
Ogboye hinted that ” Lagos is used to taking quarterly supplies from the federal government, which although over the years has been inadequate.”
” I’m excited because this is perhaps, apart from the state government, this is the most consistent supply that we would be having. We were told, or the ministry was informed, that the Gates Foundation is assisting the state with a 25 million supply of family planning “. He stated
On her part, the Special Adviser on Health to the Lagos State Governor, Dr ( Mrs ) Kemi Ogunyem, said over 3,000 people migrate into Lagos every day, an indication that there is pressure on the resources in the state.
To this end, she said the state is looking at about 30 million people residing in Lagos, and “we have to meet their needs.”
“ She noted, ” Our indices for maternal and infant mortality rates are not where we really want them, adding that encouraging our women and men to do family planning, to ensure that they space out their births, their pregnancies, is also helping us to reduce maternal mortality rates as well. ”
And so not only is this important that we have the commodities, we still have to go out there and advocate and make people more aware that they have to have family planning services.” Ogunyemi