SFH identifies critical family planning gaps in Abia, Akwa Ibom

The Society for Family Health (SFH) has pinpointed significant challenges hindering family planning services in Nigeria's Abia and Akwa Ibom states. Assessments revealed critical shortages in essential commodities, service delivery tools, and provider training resources.

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These included the need for additional service delivery commodities; high-end insertion kits for trained providers; anatomical models for continuous skills development; and data collection tools to improve reporting.

Eze Nwokoma, Project Coordinator for SFH, stated that these deficiencies urgently need addressing to bolster family planning services and improve reproductive health. "These included the need for additional service delivery commodities; high-end insertion kits for trained providers; anatomical models for continuous skills development; and data collection tools to improve reporting," he said.

In response, SFH provided a comprehensive package of family planning materials to the state governments. This includes high-end insertion kits, procedure kits, pelvic training models, registers, summary forms, training manuals, and family planning kits. These resources are intended to support quality service delivery, improve data collection and reporting, and facilitate ongoing mentoring for healthcare providers.

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These resources will support quality service delivery, strengthen routine data collection and reporting, and enable continuous on-the-job mentoring of healthcare providers.

Officials in both Abia and Akwa Ibom formally received the materials, expressing appreciation for SFH's partnership. They affirmed their commitment to sustaining the collaboration and expanding access to reproductive health services. Nwokoma described the initiative as an investment in stronger health systems and healthier communities, aiming for increased access to quality contraceptive services, better reproductive health choices, and reduced maternal deaths.

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The long-term impact will be seen in increased access to quality contraceptive services, better-informed reproductive health choices, fewer preventable maternal deaths, and improved health outcomes for women and families.