Addressing participant journalists at the workshop, the Lagos State Ministry of Health Reproductive Health Coordinator, Dr. Saidat Okaga said FP can prevent about 34 per cent of Nigeria’s maternal mortality and morbidity incidence, hence government at all level should embrace and scale it up since it could play a central role in that regard. With reference to the Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey 2013, the country’s maternal mortality ratio is 576 per 100,000 meaning that out of every 100,000 live birth in the country, 576 women would die. This translates to the death of 110 women every day in Nigeria due to pregnancy related issues as maternal death alone accounts for 32 per cent of all death among women in country, the survey affirmed.

 

According to Dr. Omasanjuwa Edun of the Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI), lots of people have not still been able to appreciate the link between FP and maternal health and mortality, as it is seen as just a method to stop childbirth and spacing them. He explained that FP goes beyond that to save the life of a woman who normally might have died from an unwanted pregnancy, especially for those who have reach the limit of the number of children they want to have. Edun continued, “FP also saves women the extra burden of carrying risk-associated pregnancies particularly the unplanned ones.

 

He advanced that it takes two years for a woman to go back to her pre-pregnancy stage after each delivery and FP affords the woman this chance, which is why it improves maternal health. He lamented, “lots of awareness needs to be done to educate the public that FP is an intervention that would improve the health of women and invariable that of the family and the nation at large.” The FP expert regretted that though it is the only intervention that can aid in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) because it affects all the themes in a way or the other, government policies are not encouraging in that regard.

 

“The country’s contraceptive prevalence (CPR) rate is as low as 15.1 per cent” and this means that less percentage of women uses any sort of contraceptive methods. “Once FP becomes normal in our society and everybody can discuss it freely and positively, then our CPR which is the bases for measuring effectiveness of FP in a country would rise and maternal death can reduce,” he stated.

 

Expressing her dissatisfaction towards government’s political will in scaling up FP in the country was Programme Officer, DEVCOMS, Mrs. Abiodun Owo, who noted that though commitments have been made on paper by the Federal Government at the London Summit in 2012 to improve reproductive health which FP falls under, no support has come forth since. Nigeria happens to have very poor maternal and child mortality indices she said, as “we are the second poorest in the world.” “And for us to stem this poor indices, we need to embrace FP because it has huge benefits for the, the mother, child and family at large,” she added. Owo bemoan, “FP is a preventive measure to reduce maternal and child mortality in Nigeria, because it is a strong pillar in safe motherhood.”