Kwara State Government has said that partnership with family planning development partners has helped in increase in the uptake of family planning modern contraceptive methods across health facilities in the state.
Speaking at the TCI Nextgen Dissemination and Transition meeting on Tuesday in Ilorin, the state commissioner for Health, Dr. Amina El-Imam, said that development partners had helped to transform the state’s landscape of family planning and reproductive health services over the past three and half years.
The commissioner, who said that the collaboration with development partners had improved maternal and child health services, as well as empowered families, added that, “Through the partnership between TCI and state ministry of Health, TCI has been able to scale-up proven-to-work approaches for High Impact Practices, which was initially just a theory but now practical.
“Additionally, this partnership has helped strengthen the family planning system and data use, fostered community engagements and demands, and has helped improve resource mobilization”, she said.
Dr. El-Imam, who called on relevant stakeholders in the state to give renewed pledge to prioritize family health as a cornerstone of development journey, said that, “We must integrate these successes recorded by TCI into our health programmes and policies and continually innovate to meet the evolving health needs of Kwarans”.
“Looking ahead, I call upon all relevant stakeholders here present, our development partners, the healthcare workers, and our traditional rulers, to continue working together, ensuring that every resident in Kwara state has access to quality reproductive health services.
“Let us remain steadfast in our commitment to making Kwara State a model for quality family planning service delivery in the country”.
The commissioner, on behalf of the state, pledged to sustain momentum achieved so far, while she commended Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq for providing an enabling environment for development partners to support the state in improving its health indices.
“Another testament to His Excellency’s giant strides is the facilitation of the European Union grant for Strengthening Access to Reproductive and Adolescent Health (EU-SARAH) programme to Kwara State”.
Also speaking, Director TCI, Nigeria, Dr. Taiwo Johnson, commended the state government and its personnel for providing enabling environment for development partners to succeed.
She said that the organization would continue to support at back-end to see that family planning situation in the state does not go back to what it used to be.
Kunle Omotosho of the TCI described the three-and-a-half-year collaboration of the group with the Kwara state government in family planning as highly beneficial and impactful.
He called for improved finance and an increase in social mobilization, while he hailed a record of 70 per cent uptake of family planning in the state.