By Salim Yunusa
As part of activities towards marking the year 2021 World Contraception Day (WCD), the Lagos State Government and a coalition of civil societies – Partnership for Advocacy in Child Health and family Health at Scale (PACFaH@Scale) – advocating improved family planning, on Tuesday, assembled experts and government officials in Lagos to review the state’s commitment to family planning and access to contraception in the state and beyond.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi, while welcoming guests and partners to the event said through increased campaign for the use of modern contraceptives, Lagos State has averted 167,000 unintended pregnancies and 51,000 abortions within an unspecified period of time.
According to Mr Abayomi, the state increased the use of contraceptives from 18 per cent in the last year to 21 per cent currently.
He said; “Family planning is also a tool for women empowerment because increasing access to family planning is an investment and that for every dollar spent, three dollars are gained.”
In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, the Modern Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (MCPR) for all women currently stands at only 16.6 per cent, the National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) 2018, states.
By implication, one in four married women aged 15-49 still has an unmet need for modern contraception. This also further indicates that about 15.7 million sexually active women in Nigeria who want to avoid pregnancy, as well as sexually transmitted diseases, will still find it very difficult to do so.
