The need for increase in Support among states and local government’s across Nigeria through timely release of budgetary allocation and proper funding for child spacing and family planning has been stressed at three day advocacy workshop in Abuja.
One of the leading resource person who also spoke on behalf of the organisers “The Challenge Intiative” TCI, Dorcas Akila in an interview said no woman deserves to die while giving life to another Person.
Dorcas said “issues surrounding family planning or child spacing has some myths and misconceptions therefore there is need to effectively engage decision and policy makers towards changing the narratives”.
She also called for the increase in the involvement of traditional and religious leaders as well as the media whom she described as key partners towardtowards spacing or family planning as well as martanal mortality programmes and activities.
Dorcas Akila said her organisation The Challenge Initiative, Founded by Bill and Millinda Gates Foundation through John Hopkins Centre for Communications Programme with implementation in Nigeria, said the activity was put up with a view to increase advocacy and engage participants to come up with acceptable data and true information from states that through policy briefs and fact sheets concerning each of the participating States.
The Challenge Initiative official said also bringing participants from Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, Jigawa, Akwa Ibom and Sokoto will increase skills on approach techniques that will ease their advocacy approach to crotical stakeholders in their various States.
Dorcas Akila said despite the challenges in indeces concerning family planning in Nigeria, Yet, both the two major religion of christianity and Islam encourages child spacing so as to allow both mother and child have a healthy living.
The participants who are drawn from ministries of health and primary health care development agencies and civil soviety organisations also has the media and the traditional institutions had representation from from each state.