Stakeholders have urged the Cross River State government to include funding in the budget for the effective implementation of family planning in the state.
The announcement was made on Wednesday at the Family Planning Technical Working Group’s third-quarter meeting, which was hosted by the Ministry of Health in Calabar and featured Mr. Emmanuel Emesowum, a representative of the United Nations Population Funds.
The group claims that the call came as a result of the expanding funding gap in family planning implementation and that stakeholders want the 36 states to include family planning separately in their 2023 budgetary allocation.
Speaking on family planning financing, he said while donor funding was on the decline, the demand for commodities had continued to increase.
According to Emesowum, who unveiled the UNFPA Family Planning Implementation Guideline for Nigeria at the meeting, the document would be circulated nationwide so that states could increase procurement of the commodities.
He said out of $35million required for the procurement of commodities this year, “UNFPA has provided 8 million US dollars, while the Nigerian Government is expected to procure the rest. The Nigerian Government alone cannot sustain the funding.
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“The funding gap here is about 80 percent, which requires that state governments need to contribute. The supply gap keeps widening and the Federal Ministry of Health is unable to meet the demand for commodities. But what has also been observed is that state governments in Nigeria lack dedicated budget line for family planning. This through advocacy needs to change.
“The state governments must be actively involved in family planning. The population growth across the world is rising and the supply of most of the commodities is reducing now more than ever. We have discovered that we cannot even meet the current demand and create awareness for more.
“So, as part of UNFPA’s commitment to scale up supply, which witnessed a decline with the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia war, this 77-page implementation guideline would be disseminated nationwide to enhance family planning and hopefully scale up procurement to address the situation,” he said.
In his remarks, the Director of Public Health in the State Ministry of Health, Jonas Offor, thanked the partners for the work done in Cross River so far, adding that the current global economic situation called for proper planning.
“I, on behalf of the Cross River State Government appreciate UNFPA and all our partners. It is obvious that there is need for proper planning in view of the current economic situation in the country and world.
“We need to regulate the number of children and educate those ignorant to understand the need for family planning. There are so many factors affecting population such as cultural need for male child, crimes, over-stretched social amenities, increased maternal and infant mortality amongst others.
“I can assure you that the ministry will continue to partner with our donors to achieve the needed success by increasing acceptance for family planning commodities, continuous community enlightenment and other areas,” he said.
Speaking earlier, the Family Planning Coordinator in Cross River State, Lucy Enakirerhi, charged members of thematic committees to develop and implement work plans to enhance the distribution of family planning commodities in the storage facility to difficult to reach villages and centres requiring needed intervention.
At the event, partner agencies such as the World Health Organization, Ministry of International Development Corporation, Cross River State Budget Office, NGOs among others delivered goodwill messages.
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