By Fatima Muraina

Governments at all levels have been advised on the urgent need to include Family Planning in their budgets with a view to tackling high rate of unwanted pregnancies and cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV) which are now high as a result of COVID-19 pandemic.
The Assistant Representative/ Head of Lagos Liasion, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Dr. Omolase Omosehin gave the advice while speaking on a Webinar in an interactive meeting with the Network of Reproductive Health Journalists, Nigeria (NRHJN) at the weekend.
Dr Omosehin who spoke on ‘Putting the brakes on COVID-19: How to safeguard the health rights of women and girls now’ to mark the population day, expressed dissatisfaction that very little states have budgetary provision for family planning.
According to him, if governments invest in good health to make sure that children live long, people may not wish to have many children which cannot be taken care of adequately.
While emphasizing on the need to look at areas of good governance and policy, Omosehin said there was need to maintain reproductive health services to women and girls and to ensure that services are given to those who want to space, stop or delay pregnancies as the case maybe.
Lamenting the high rate of unintended pregnancies, Omosehin noted that UNFPA is getting commodity to service delivery to support women on their reproductive rights.
He said his organisation is working with the Federal Ministry of Health to ensure that supplies of services are maintained as states were supported with Personal Protective Equipment and other necessary materials like gloves, masks, sanitizers and establishment of wash hand locations throughout the states.
According to him, women and girls are disproportionately affected because a lot of health and social workers are women and are exposed to greater risks as the pandemic is hitting more on the maginalised communities.
He raised the fear of attaining the sustainable development goals in 2030 which he observed would be compromised as a result of the pandemic.
He applauded the Federal Ministry of Health for funding the purchase of contraceptive commodities for the past five years, but added that efforts should be made to consider the Public Health Programmes in the country which he noted as being donor driven.