NGO advocates separate budget-line for family planning, safe motherhood
Awareness Initiative for Good living (AIGL), a non-governmental agency has advocated for separate budget line for family planning to improve child health care and drastically reduce maternal mortality.
The Kwara-based NGO, established six years, was charged with the responsibility of family planning advocacy where membership were drawn from public and private sectors, health personnel, faith- based group, journalists, community leaders and social groups.
“Our advocacy to the government functionaries is basically on the need to create separate budget-line, approve and release same for Family Planning.
“The essence of separate budget -line is for family to be given a priority among other primary healthcare services, as the fund is meant to purchase consumables that are not provided along with family planning commodities to enable our women and adolescents access family planning services free of charge,” said Abdulwahab Ajibola, the Chairman AIGL.
The vision of AIGL was to ensure improved investment on family planning for readily available of products and services, partner with good society and donor organisations to support and strengthen reproductive health programmes.
According to Ajibola, in his address at the 2nd Media Executive Meeting, lamented that “in 2015, the state released a sum of N2.1m as separate budget-line for family planning and was geared up to N4m in 2017, while a sum of N5m was budgeted for family planning in 2017, none of these budget-lines neither got approval nor releases.
He disclosed that, the National Hospital Discharge Survey (NHDS) put maternal mortality ratio to 6:100 in 1hour. Meaning, an average of 168 women die daily to complicated pregnancy, he urged that, “we are committed to keep working despite the little stipend provided.
“We plead with government at all levels to assist us with fund as we planned to improve on the advocacy to reduce death of women and adolescents from child delivery complications that are resulting from either frequent child birth, too young or too old in age.”
Bilqees Oladimeji, the Secretary, AIGL, in her submission, stressed the need for traditional rulers’ support for family planning, the religious leaders propagating family planning and technocrats contributing to the development of health-care programmes.
“The Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI), contributed immensely to the development of health-care services in the state and since they left, efforts are on top gear to make sure that they come to Kwara.
“We are committed to ensure “safe motherhood”. The facilities at Olanrewaju, Temitope, Kosemani hospitals and others are still not enough; we need to improve their capacity to avoid death during child birth. We therefore call on government and other relevant agencies to support us financially.”
Oladimeji, who warned that women should not just go to quarks for family planning, advised them to go to the hospital and get proper counsel from medical experts, just as she enjoined husbands to support their wives in family planning.
“Family planning is a way of life”, it is beneficial to the father, mother and the child, added Sadiat Asaju, Kwara State Co-ordinator for family planning.