UNFPA hands over Family Planning commodities to Gombe State Govt.

By Hajara Leman

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on Tuesday presented
assorted Family Planning commodities to the Gombe State Government.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that items presented include 435,024 pieces of male condom,
11,000 vials of Noristrate injection and 30,000 vials of Depo Provera.

The Officer in charge of the UNFPA Kaduna Sub Office, Dr Awoke Tebeje, said during the handover ceremony in Gombe
that the Federal Government is committed to ensuring health services are accessible to all Nigerians, especially
vulnerable women and adolescent girls.

He said Gombe as a state had made a commitment as the first state in the country to facilitate the procurement of
Family Planning commodities through counterpart payment of N36 million to address the gap in unmet needs.

According to him, health financing and provision of family planning services and commodities are responsibilities
of all tiers of government.

He, therefore, called for increased efforts by all the tiers so as to reduce child and maternal mortality
in Gombe and in the country.

The UNFPA officer, who identified funding as inadequate over the years and had to be augmented by external donors,
however, commended Gombe State Government for collaborating with relevant partners, including UNFPA,
to address the challenges.

He said the collaboration had been yielding fruitful results toward reducing unmet need for family planning,
maternal mortality and improving Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) by ensuring availability of essential commodities.

In his speech, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Habu Dahiru, said Gov. Inuwa Yahaya accords priority to health issues.

He commended UNFPA for the partnership and promised that the commodities would be distributed free.

Abdulrahman Shuaibu, Executive Secretary, Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency (GSPHDA),
said the state government had procured family planning commodities that would be distributed across
456 health facilities in the state.

Represented by Dr Maryam Abubakar, the Director, Community and Family health, GSPHDA, Shuaibu
said the commodities would help to enhance reproductive health and promote family planning services
in the state.

(NAN)