As progress in family planning use and acceptance continues to be slow, health experts and advocates are calling on state and local authorities to take responsibility for ensuring accessibility to family planning products and a commitment to the importance of birth spacing and the nation's population.
Experts gathered at the World Population Day Symposium in Abuja on Friday expressed concern over the lack of progress in funding that has been consistently allocated to the procurement of family planning commodities over the years.
The symposium was organized by the Population Association of Nigeria in collaboration with the Development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC) to commemorate World Population Day (WPD) 2024.
The event was themed: “Harnessing the power of inclusive data to achieve a resilient and equitable future for all,” focusing on the need for family planning to address demographic challenges and opportunities in Nigeria.
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Participants at the event stressed that subnational governments must work with the national government to prevent uncontrolled population growth that would affect the country's ability to benefit from quality health care.
According to President Bola Tinubu's Special Adviser on Health, Salma Ibrahim, family planning is one of the most effective methods to address the ever-growing population and at the same time maternal mortality.
Ms. Salma said overpopulation in developing economies presents its own set of challenges, saying it impedes efforts to eradicate poverty and inequality; combat hunger and malnutrition; expand educational enrolment and improve the performance of health systems to achieve universal health coverage.
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“Taken together, these challenges are crucial to achieving the sustainable development agenda, and understanding the dynamics of our population as it grows is crucial to being able to address these development challenges more effectively,” he said.
Maternal mortality
Also speaking, the President of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Society of Nigeria, Okechukwu Ikpeze, said uncontrolled delivery contributes significantly to the high maternal mortality rate in the country.
He said that family planning not only helps in controlling population but also drastically reduces cases of maternal mortality.
Mr. Ikpeze also indicated that there is a need to reorient citizens on birth control and encourage behavioural change and greater advocacy among citizens.
She said: “Family planning is important. In the past, many children died because women wanted to have a certain number of children, so that if some died, they would still have some children. But now we have gone beyond that point. Also, there are no resources to take care of the children.
“There are some countries that limit the number of children allowed and they are doing it better than us. But here, we believe that having many children is an asset and we have to address this problem.”
Similarly, the district head of Gagi community in Sokoto State, Umar Jabi, said the high maternal mortality rate requires improving the availability of family planning to all members of the population.
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Mr Jabi said: “The federal government is doing a lot, but subnational governments must also take responsibility, especially when it comes to the procurement of family planning services.
“Family planning products should be available to all citizens. This is an important health care service for all women and men in the country,” she said.
Cost of contraceptives that impede access
In his contribution, Ejike Oji, Chairman of the Management Committee of the Association for the Advancement of Family Planning (AAFP) and focal person for Nigeria Health Watch, presented the results of a recent market survey conducted by dRPC on the accessibility of contraceptives.
She said the report showed a financial barrier based on the cost of consumables that prevents access to contraceptives and other family planning consumables.
“We saw trade-offs in behavior and availability and accessibility,” Oji said, citing the research findings.
Mr Oji said providers regretted that many people had very little knowledge about family planning and contraceptive use.
The researcher said: “In this survey, we observed a behavioral trade-off regarding the investment of time and money.
“Other findings show that customers now prioritize spending on contraceptives over other expenses such as hair and makeup.”