Kemi Olatunde

In an attempt to bring improvement to Family Planning services in Ondo State, 24000 unit of Intrauterine Device by (IUD) which is worth N12million, has been donated to the state,The Hope has gathered.

Speaking at a cascade training on the long-acting reversible contraceptives in Akure on Wednesday, Permanent Secretary, Ondo State Primary Health Care Development Agency (OSPHCDA), Dr. Francis Akanbiemu commended Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa for his unwaivering support for the health sector and his unprecedented investment in the state Primary Health Care (PHC) system , noting that the state would soon recruit additional doctors and nurses in the state.

According to him, there is an ongoing renovation of 203 PHC centres across the state, noting that it would attract more clients to the facilities.

While thanking the donor and organiser of the training, Deep Kumar Tyaga (DKT) international Nigeria, he described family planning as one of the methods of mother and child survival.

He noted that the training is key in the reduction of morbidity and mortality across the 18 Local Government areas of the state calling on participants to embrace qualitative service delivery, saying “Let your services be of quality so that we will continue to know that nurses hold the key to the survival of mothers and children in the state.”

Representative of the Permanent Secretary, Ondo State Hospitals’ Management Board, Mrs Oyebola Babalola stressed the need for participants to cascade the training to other health workers for effective service delivery in facilities.

Representative of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Pharm. Courage Oyeto while thanking the partner for the support, stated that the gesture would ensure the delivery of family commodities in health facilities on regular basis.

She called for proper documentation of the commodities to prevent out of stock in the facilities.

Director, Medical Services, OSPHCDA, Dr. Paulinus Omode commended the donor for the efforts put in the training and the distribution of commodities, noting that the training would help in improving the quality of family planning services and also increase the contraceptive prevalence in the state.

In her goodwill message, Clinical Service Manager, DKT international Nigeria, Mrs Odeniran Sarah expressed appreciation to the state government for its support for the organisation , hoping that the partnership leads to the successful outcome which according to her would yield positive intake of the outcome of the long acting reversible contraceptives.

She noted that the organisation decided to donate 24000 unit of IUD which with N10million and also train 40 nurses due to the low uptake of the long acting reversible contraceptives in the state.

While stating the readiness of the organisation to follow up on the training, she encouraged participants to cascade the training to other health workers in their facilities and urged government to reciprocate the gesture especially in the procurement of other commodities aside the IUD.

Speaking briefly with The Hope, she said that the organisation expects over 1000 women to access the family planning service.

Also speaking, Clinical Service Specialist, DKT international Nigeria, Faustina Ekundare noted that there has been a rapid improvement among participants since the inception of the six day training which according to her commenced on Sunday.

She called for the increase uptake in long acting reversible contraceptives after the training , adding that participants become family planning ambassadors in the state.

In an interview with The Hope, Ondo State Coordinator, Family Planning, Mrs Opeyemi Agunbiade described Family Planning as a major strategy for improving the health and well-being of women of reproductive age,

She explained that, to ensure the continued provision of quality services, the state government, in collaboration with DKT International Nigeria, trained nurses across primary, secondary, and tertiary health institutions on long-acting reversible contraceptive methods of family planning.

She noted that the exercise aimed at improving access to family planning services and in turn increase the Contraceptive Prevalence Rate of Ondo State.

She charged participants to cascade the training to other technical health workers at the different health facilities in order to ascertain quality family planning services across the service delivery points.

The methods of family planning according to her are; Male condom,
Female condom, combined oral pills (microgynon), Progestin only pill(excluton), DMPA-IM, DMPA-SC
Noristerat, Implanon, Jadelle, Copper-IUD
and Hormonal-IUD.

Some participants expressed their readiness to improve the services , noting that they have been adequately equipped with the needed knowledge on family planning methods.