Worried by the poor knowledge of family planning, especially at the grassroots, a Non Governmental Organisation, “Development Communities” (DevComs) has called on journalists to intensify efforts in creating awareness on the benefits of accessing family planning by women of reproductive age.
Speaking on day 2 of a three-day-Training of Media personnel, Social media influencers and MDA officials on Media Advocacy for family planning in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, the Family planning Coordinator of the State Health Care Development Agency, Mrs Enobong Eshiet said the poor awareness of Family planning at the media space was the major factor for its low uptake in the communities.
She alluded to a 34-year-old Blessing Ima Bassey, a mother of six who told a visiting team of the group to Primary Health Centre, Oti Oro in Okobo local government that she never heard of family planning until she brought her sixth child for immunization at the health center on Wednesday, February 21,2024.
Eshiet, however, urged the media to channel same energy used in publicizing COVID 19 and HPV vaccines even at the hinterlands to Family planning, saying that such would reduce the issues of unwanted pregnancies, maternal/mortality death as well as other issues associated with non access of family planning.
She further urged them to encourage government and other policy makers to provide consumables to primary health facilities, employ more manpower, as well as give a budgetary line of family planning to enhance its smooth services and address some unmet needs of people of reproductive age.
Eshiet also lauded the donor agency, “The Challenge Initiative” (TCI) for its steadfastness in providing consumables to Oti-Oro health centre and other facilities and urged the state government to key into it.
Her words, “The level of knowledge of people about family planning and its uptake is very low, the essence of the training is for the media to amplify the message about the benefits of family planning. Tell people where to access the services t will go a long way to improve services also to make government take up full responsibility, for instance we are talking about manpower, employing enough health workers in the facility so that people will be there to provide services incase some people go out for promotions and others will remain in the office.
“The Media can talk to the government to provide consumables, there are lots of unmet needs. We want the media to channel the same energy they used in publicizing COVID 19 vaccines, HPV vaccine to family planning so that people will get to know the reason they should get family planning and for a woman to know the number of children she’ll want to have in this prevailing economic situation. Some women may like to have a certain number of children but it keeps on coming and they say it’s by mistake so if they have this knowledge and how to assess these services, there will be remarkable changes.
“Government should invest in family planning. They should give family planning a budget line because when Federal ministry of health came to disseminate the National guideline on state procurement of family commodities it said 1% of the health budget should be set aside for family planning to help the facilities to procure family planning commodities to prevent stock out where a client will be compelled to make do what they see and not what they want.”
