By Muhammad Amaan
The Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN) and Support for Advocacy and Maternal and Adolescent Health (SAMASHA), Uganda, have paid an advocacy visit to the Kano State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency (KSCHMA) for inclusion of Family Planning (FP) services and commodities into the state’s health contributory scheme.
A statement by the Public Relations Officer of KSCHMA, Aminu Ahmad Turaki, said the high-level visit aimed to assess the current scope of healthcare services under the scheme and explore sustainable strategies for integrating family planning into the benefits package.
He said the meeting targeted advancing Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in Kano State.
Speaking during the meeting, Executive Secretary KSCHMA, Dr Rahila Aliyu Mukhtar, expressed appreciation for the initiative and reiterated the agency’s commitment to comprehensive healthcare for all enrollees.
She said the agency is dedicated to ensuring equitable and affordable access to quality healthcare for all residents of Kano State.
“We recognise that family planning is essential not only to maternal and child health but also to broader development goals. KSCHMA welcome this advocacy visit and are open to strategic partnerships that will help integrate FP services sustainably into our scheme,” Dr Rahila said.
The AHBN delegation was led by Dr Musa M. Bello, State Family Planning Advocacy Lead, who highlighted the importance of domestic financing and policy support to ensure access to reproductive health services within contributory schemes:
“Expanding the KSCHMA benefits package to include family planning will contribute significantly to improving health outcomes, reducing maternal mortality, and supporting socio-economic development,” he emphasised.
Grants and Programs Manager at SAMASHA Uganda, Mr Perez Watswa shared experiences from Uganda on the successful integration of FP into public health contributory.
He stressed the value of stakeholder engagement, costed implementation plans, and consistent advocacy.
“We’ve seen the transformative impact of family planning integration in Uganda. It is not just about adding services, it’s about sustainability, ownership, and equity in health service delivery,” Mr Watswa said.
The advocacy visit concluded with a shared commitment to establish a Technical Working Group that will explore policy alignment, cost-effectiveness, and implementation strategies tailored to the Kano State context.
This visit marks a progressive step toward expanding access to essential reproductive health services and achieving inclusive healthcare under the KSCHMA framework.
Meanwhile, the team also visited Drugs and Medical Consumables Supply Agency (DMCSA) as a follow up engagement to ascertain the supply chain of FP commodities and advocated for strengthened multi-sectoral collaboration for integrated health services, with an emphasis on improving supply chain systems that support family planning and other essential health services.
The team was received by Pharmacist A M Bello on behalf of the Director General and briefed the team on the family planning commodities received from BMGF and distributed across the state health facilities.
Pharmacist Bello stated that, to address the logistics challenges associated with distribution of FP commodities, the agency already integrated FP into Drugs Revolving Funds, therefore all facilities are including FP commodities in their drugs request form which makes it seamless means of distribution to the last mile.
The team were also toured to the storages were family planning commodities were kept.
These coordinated advocacy efforts reflect a broader commitment of AHBN and SAMASHA to advancing Universal Health Coverage and improving access to reproductive healthcare services in Nigeria and Uganda.
The engagement also served as evidence generation tactics and also tracks the state’s efforts towards the attainment of FP2030 Commitments.
