Nigeria Health Watch
By Kenneth Ibe & Olubunmi Oyebanji (Lead Writers) The availability of family planning services, enables girls and women to make informed choices about birth spacing and their desired family size. It also contributes to improved sexual and reproductive health and the wellbeing of children, women, and families. Many sexually active women are still not empowered […]
“I don’t want to be pregnant at this age. I want to continue my education’’. Says 17-year-old Precious Haruna as she comes out of a patent medicine store in her Karatudu community in Chikum Local Government Area (LGA) of Kaduna State. Precious has come for a counselling session about the injectable contraceptive method she is […]
Thirty years ago, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) established World Population Day, an annual event observed on July 11 every year. The world’s population had hit just over five billion people two years earlier and to commemorate that, World Population Day aimed to raise awareness and to take action on various population issues, such […]
Editor’s Note: This week’s blog comes from Nigeria Health Watch team member Dara Ajala-Damisa. She writes about choosing a family planning method as a young newly married woman. She delves into how the perceptions of negative side effects can affect contraceptive use in Nigeria and the need to increase the public’s knowledge about the importance […]
Significant investment continues to be made to improve the health of women and children across Nigeria, especially in rural, disadvantaged locations. The necessity of investment is especially glaring in northern Nigeria, where maternal mortality rates are particularly high relative to the rest of the country. A deal of effort has been made to improve maternal […]
“If you fail to plan, plan to fail” – Benjamin Franklin Family planning allows communities to shape their futures and use resources effectively. This has spill over effects for the nation’s economy, productivity, and well-being. Today, a Nigerian woman has an average of 5.5 children in her lifetime compared with her counterpart in neighbouring Ghana […]
Rijiyar Lemu Model Primary Health Center (PHC) along Kano – Katsina road on the outskirts of Kano city centre is unlike many other PHCs in Nigeria. Although the building is somewhat rundown and could do with some renovation, the PHC is large enough to accommodate several offices and there is a moderate staff force. Besides […]
The women who access family planning services at Okeolola Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC) in Oyo town, Oyo State have a local name for their preferred family planning method. It’s called “alapa” and refers to the implant family planning method. “Apa” translates to “arm” in Yoruba and because the implants are inserted in the arm, demand […]
The development Research and Project Center (dRPC), under the Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health @ Scale (PAS) project, in collaboration with the federal ministry of health and civil society organizations in Nigeria is organizing a one day high level meeting to update states on the new Family Planning policies and policy revisions, as […]
It was a bright Saturday morning when a team of volunteers, made up of nurses and medical corps from the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), set out on a mission to take reproductive health, antenatal, and family planning services to a rural community called Kaida-Sabo village, in Gwagwalada area council of the Federal Capital Territory […]
The first Health Watch Forum of 2018, organised by Nigeria Health Watch with the support of partners, brought together a dynamic group of speakers and delegates to look at the issue of family planning from all angles. From government to civil society, different ends of the religious spectrum, policymakers to advocates, faith leaders to development […]
Nigeria is facing a population explosion, which if not meaningfully tackled, will affect our ability as a country to meet the needs of every Nigerian. In no sector is this more obvious than in the health sector. Family planning is one of the leading strategies to improve family life and welfare, control unwanted population growth, […]
From inception, family planning interventions and responsibility for the uptake of family planning commodities has pre-dominantly been targeted at women. This seems logical, as women are the end users of most family planning commodities. Yet, men are often the primary decision makers that have an influence on when (or whether) women access family planning services […]