Dr. Osagie Ehanire, Minister of Health
By Hassan John
The shortage of family planning commodities currently being experienced in Nigeria is due to the unexpected population of women who demand for it, the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, has revealed.
Speaking while delivering a keynote address at an event in Abuja, weekend, the Minister said his recent pronouncement sometimes in 2021 that family planning information, services and commodities are free at all level of the public health care delivery system triggered the demand to an unexpected level leading to the shortage of the commodities in all parts of the country.
Represented by the Deputy Director of Family Planning Logistics, Pharmacists Uguchukwu Alex, the Minister said: “The demand for family planning information, services and commodities has been increasing exponentially leading to significant increase in funding requirements for procurement of needed commodities and other interventions which is increasingly becoming difficult to keep up with.
“Of course, this increase has resulted in stock out of the family planning commodities which in turn is negatively impacting the achievement of our key family planning targets.”
He, therefore, explained that in effort to address the challenge caused by the shortage of the commodities:
“The Federal Ministry of Health, as part of the solutions has developed and is currently disseminating the National Guideline for State-funded Procurement of Family Planning Commodities which purpose is to promote domestic funding for procurement and distribution with substantial contributions from the thirty-six states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
“The adoption and inclusive implementation by the national and sub-national level Governments, of Nigeria’s Family Planning Blueprint, FP2030 Commitment as well as other critical family planning documents equally form part of the solutions to the challenges facing the national family planning programme.
“Again, the Federal Ministry of Health also realised that the potentials of the private sector are not being harnessed adequately, hence the development of the Private Sector Engagement Strategy on Sexual and Reproductive Health. Government is hoping that the key Private Sector players will embrace this strategy and contribute to the expected success.”
Speaking earlier, a renowned obstetrician, Prof. Oladapo Ladipo, however, lamented that Nigeria has the monopoly of Virginal Fistula condition in the world.
He, therefore, called for massive education of teenage girs, who, according to him, are sexually active in order to prevent them from having unwanted pregnancies by using approved contraceptive methods.
“Nigeria has the monopoly of Virginal Fistula condition in the world. It should not be so. It is better to educate teenage girls when they are sexually active to prevent pregnancy by using approved contraceptive method,” he said.
