Stakeholders have commended the significant improvement in the family planning uptake in Osun.
They gave the commendation during a stakeholders meeting on “Sustaining Family Intervention: Transitioning of Osun Government to Self-Reliance” on Tuesday in Osogbo.
The programme was organised by the state government in partnership with a Non-governmental organisation, The Challenge Initiative(TCI).
The commissioner for health, Jola Akintola, said that the state government partnership with TCI had led to significant improvement in the family uptake in the state.
Akintola said that the state government remained committed to prioritising family planning and reproductive health.
“We recognise the importance of family planning in achieving sustainable development and improving the health and well-being of our citizens.
“As we celebrate our achievements and recognise outstanding contributions, I urge us all to continue working together towards a future where every individual in the state will have access to quality family planning services”, he said.
In her remarks, the state family planning coordinator, Mrs Ololade Abatan, said that 76,008 men women took up family planning in the last three years of TCI intervention in the state.
Abatan said that this was a significant improvement on family planning uptake in the state before TCI intervention.
In her remarks, Dr Taiwo Johnson, the country director of TCI said that there had been gradual remarkable improvement in family uptake in the state following TCI intervention.
Taiwo said that as the state government was transitioning to self-reliance in family, TCI wanted to see more women taking up family planning in the state.
She said that with the three years of TCI intervention, the state would now start to fund and own its family planning programmes.
” One of the things we mentioned when we started was that we wanted the state to reach the stage of sustainability which is basically means that the state will start funding and own its family programmes.
“So averagely three and half years of TCI intervention is coming to an end and what is means is that Osun state will start funding its family planning programmes in ensuring the sustainable of the various achievements”, she said.
Also, Dr. Olukunle Omotoso
Senior Technical Advisor, TCI, Nigeria, said that the overall goal TCI was to achieve self-reliance by scaling up family planning, leading to sustained improvement in urban and health system.
Omotoso, however, called on the state government to increase funding for family planning in the state.
He said the demand for family planning in the state was high but there is need for more funding for procurement of commodities.
Omotoso said that the had the highest number of women that completed family planning referral in all the states where TCI was operating.
He called on the state government to also recruit more service providers to replace those retiring to meet the demands for family planning.
Omotoso urged the state government to sustained the gains it has achieved in the uptake of the family planning in the state
