Child Spacing: Service providers seek deeper Kaduna govt’s intervention
Kaduna State in Northwest Nigeria is running fast out of child spacing commodities for reproductive age women living therein.
This, development experts say may hinder the progress recorded in the demand for some of the commodities because both old and new uptakers don’t have access to them and may increase the rate of maternal and child death that may arise from unsafe pregnancies.
It has been proven that, maternal and child mortality rate can be reduced by 40 percent if women can space their pregnancy at least two years before the next one. But inadequate or lack of the commodities like corper-T, condoms, in-plant and the rest of them will affect that attempt.
It is against this background that child spacing service providers are calling on Kaduna State government to provide equipment needed for administration of child spacing service in health facilities rendering the services.
Some health journalists have embarked on assessment tour of facilities within Kaduna South local government area of the state to investigate interventions made by a development partner, Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative, (NURHI) under its ’72 hours’ intervention programme.
The In-charge at Comprehensive Health Centre, Unguwan Maicibi, around Television Garage, Hauwa Danladi said, the facility she’s working with is in dare need of new equipment to carry out the service well.
“We lack equipment like the sponge holding forceps, scalpels, kidney dish, dissecting forceps, scissors, speculum, hospital couch/stretcher, cupboard, Gallipots, virginal speculum, chairs and curtains”, she hinted.
The in-charge, who was trained by NURHI added that, apart from inadequate equipment, there is the availability of family planning commodities and consumables in the facility though not all.
“There is an inflow of about 72 clients monthly to the facility who come to access child spacing commodities but when we run out of stock, we go to other clinics to get them”.
In another facility visited at Makera in Kaduna South, the In-charge, Zainab Mohammed pleaded with the state government to deploy additiinal skilled workers to complement her in attending to about 170 up-takers.
“Though we sometimes have volunteers within the clinic, we still require trained staff on child spacing procedures”.
While clients pay as low as N30 for consumables such as hand gloves, methylated spirit, syringe at Maicibi facility mentioned earlier, clients here have to pay up to N300 to get the same services.
“We are only given commodities from the LGA but we have to buy consumables like the sterile gloves, Iodine, sterile gauze sponges, local anesthetic, syringes and bandaged”, Nurse Zainab said.
In the two facilities visited, it was discovered that, single ladies and men also visit the clinics to access child spacing commodities. The men usually come around to collect condoms.
Reports also indicate that, a higher percentage of women prefer injectable, pills and Implanon methods of child spacing which are fast exhausting in many facilities rendering the service.
Sola Ojo sent in this report