Over 5.7 million women and girls now use a modern method of contraception in Nigeria, according to new figures released by Family Planning 2020, FP2020.
As a result of modern contraceptive use in Nigeria, more than 1.9 million unintended pregnancies were prevented, and 705,000 unsafe abortions and 13,000 maternal deaths averted in the last year.
In a new report titled: FP2020: The Arc of Progress, it was revealed that 320 million women and girls are now using modern contraception, an increase of 60 million additional users since 2012.
The report published by FP2020, a global partnership that supports the reproductive rights of women and girls, details the progress achieved in family planning over the past eight years.
With almost 60 percent of its population under the age of 25, the report noted that Africa is the world’s youngest region.
Ensuring that young women and girls have access to a growing range of contraceptive methods has resulted in not only improvements in health-related outcomes such as reduced maternal mortality and infant mortality, but also improvements in schooling and economic outcomes.
Beth Schlachter, Executive Director of FP2020, said: “The FP2020 partnership has bent the curve of progress sharply upward and responded with the strength to COVID-19.
As a result of coordinated partnership over the past eight years, millions of women and girls can now plan their own futures through access to life-changing, and lifesaving, contraceptives.
This momentum must be accelerated as the family planning community plans for the future.”
Nigeria was part of the first group of countries to commit to the FP2020 partnership when it launched in 2012. Since then, the country has made steady progress toward increased uptake of family planning.
As a result of modern contraceptive use in Nigeria, more than 1.9 million unintended pregnancies were prevented, and 705,000 unsafe abortions and 13,000 maternal deaths averted in the last year alone.
In Nigeria and Sierra Leone, injectables have risen to become the most common method in use, displacing less effective short-term methods.
Also in Nigeria, a total of 31,064 community health workers have now been trained to provide a range of contraceptive methods, and in the past 12 months, a Rapid Response Mechanism grant enabled scale-up
There is a Postpartum Family Planning service provision in Cross River, Nasarawa, and Oyo states, a follow-up to the successful scale-up in Kano, Kaduna, and Katsina states.
Significant progress has been made in Africa, where, as of July 2020, the number of users of modern methods of contraception had grown by 66% since 2012, from 40 million to more than 66 million women and girls. In Eastern and Southern Africa, the number of modern contraceptive users has grown by 70 percent since 2012.
In Nigeria, the Minister of Health issued a nationwide statement that the lockdown should not be allowed to curtail the delivery of family planning services.
Marie Stopes International (MSI) also partnered with the Ministry of Health to support 2,600 public health posts to remain open.
When sexual and reproductive healthcare services were classed as essential, the Ministry of Health granted MSI’s mobile outreach teams, which serve primarily rural regions, free movement between states. This collaboration with the Nigerian government ensured that contraception was not side-lined by the COVID-19 response.
The coordinated effort of the partnership has safeguarded family planning as an essential health service. This response appears to have largely averted the worst-case scenario, however, more work is needed to mitigate this challenge.
- Vanguard