By Ahmad Alabira, Dutse
No fewer than 30 percent of women across the 27 local government areas of Jigawa state have accepted the use of contraceptives to control and space child bearing for healthier life.
This was disclosed by the Director of the State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Shehu Sambo, in an interview with SINL Nigeria Online at the weekend in Dutse.
The “Society for Family Health (SFH) A360 Amplify Jigawa State mid-Project Destination” organized a one day meeting for stakeholders in reproductive health in Dutse.
“Over 30 percent of women of reproductive age have accepted contraceptives for child spacing and birth control for a healthier family status.
“The number of women of reproductive age in the state is estimated to be over 1.5 million, and the percentage is increasing day by day.
“The contraceptive commodities and services are available in most of the public health facilities in the state, aimed at providing easy access to any interested woman. It is a choice for any family”, Dr Sambo explained.
He said the commodities in the hospitals is getting unprecedented increase in demand by women in rural and urban areas.
In a communique issued after the stakeholders’ meeting, the State Program Manager of the SFH, Bethsheba Daure, said the aim and objective of the meeting with stakeholders drawn from various local governments was to support women and adolescent married girls to achieve family health in life.
“The meeting was to break down barriers to voluntary updates on modern contraceptives among girls aged between 15 and 19 in Nigeria.
“We want to improve sexual and reproductive health outcomes for young adolescents and women in Jigawa state” he said.
He pointed out that Jigawa has a higher fatality rate of women, which affects the socio-economic development of the communities in the rural areas.
“Jigawa State government has been called upon to pay more attention to adolescent married girls in its Human Capital Development (HCD) projects in order to improve their socio-economic lives and healthcare services”, the communique said.
