New Telegraph

Experts wants Family planning incorporated into NHIS

Experts in the Health sector has stressed the need to include Family Planning (FP) services and commodities into the National Health insurance Scheme (NHIS) both at the Federal and States level, with a view to control the country’s worrisome population explosion, improve reproductive health amongst others.

At a Webinar/Stakeholders Meeting organised by the Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN) in Abuja, the Federal Government was also urged to honour its FP 2020 commitment of budgeting the annual sum of $4 billion dollars towards family planning commodities and services.

Director and Head of Division, Reproductive Health, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Kayode Afolabi, who urged federal and state governments to increase funding to the sector, however commended some states including Lagos, Kaduna, Borno and Kano, for allocating funds in their annual state budget to support FP in terms of logistics or procurement. Dr. Afolabi further called for review of reproductive health curricula and laws in use by regulatory agencies, the need to scale up advocacy at all fronts, and ensure a buy in from the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) and the organised private sector to leverage on their strength, capacity and expertise.

In a presentation tagged ‘FP2020 COMMITMENTS ; Key Findings from the use of the Motion Tracker in 2019 and 2020 in Nigeria,’/National Coordinator AHBN, Dr. Aminu Magashi Garba, raised concerns over Nigeria’s inability to meet up with its financial obligations to the global FP campaign.

While listing challenges in the sector to include lack of multi sectoral platform and reduction of health sector budget, he said there was need to ensure sustainable financing for the National Family planning programme in the country.

“There is funding gap in Family planning in 2020, we need to ensure that the funding gap is identified and addressed annually. Government needs to put in more money for the program.” A former Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on health, Hon Muhammad Usman, warned that a demographic crisis might be imminent except government at all levels and relevant agencies play their roles including prioritising FP programmes, high level advocacy on funding and education of citizens on the Importance of using family planning commodities.

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