By Muhammad Amaan
The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare said Nigeria has begun producing family planning commodities locally, as the country seeks to strengthen reproductive healthcare and reduce its dependence on imports.
Head of the Family Health Department in the ministry’s Reproductive Health Division, Dr Samuel Oyeniyi, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja during a maternal health panel at the 2026 Joint Annual Review (JAR).
The review, themed “Together to Higher Grounds: Make the Data Count”, brought together government officials, development partners and other stakeholders to assess progress in the health sector.
Dr Oyeniyi said increased investment and collaboration between government and development partners had supported the start of domestic production.
“We have started local production of family planning commodities in Nigeria. The Coordinating Minister announced that we have started factory production for the first time,” he said.
He identified family planning as an important intervention for improving maternal and newborn health, noting that increased use of modern contraceptives could help reduce unintended pregnancies and related health risks.
Oyeniyi said Nigeria’s modern contraceptive prevalence rate increased from 12 per cent in 2018 to 18 per cent, based on demographic and health survey data.
However, he estimated that the country required about $350 million annually to provide family planning commodities and services, with government and development partners currently meeting approximately 60 per cent of the funding requirement.
Family planning has been prioritised under the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative, alongside commodity procurement, health worker training and service delivery.
Dr Oyeniyi said the ministry was also integrating family planning into maternal and child health services, particularly postpartum family planning and post-abortion care.
Three service integration documents were scheduled for inauguration during the review, alongside efforts to harmonise the quantification and distribution of relevant health commodities.
The commencement of local production could help improve supply security, but its long-term impact will depend on production capacity, affordability, quality assurance and the ability to distribute commodities consistently across the country.
Also speaking at the panel, the Director-General of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Dr Kelechi Ohiri, outlined the authority’s interventions in emergency obstetric care, neonatal services and treatment for obstetric fistula.
He said the emergency obstetric programme had expanded from four facilities to 272 facilities providing comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care.
According to Ohiri, 15 facilities were offering neonatal services, while 22 were implementing the fistula-free programme.
Dr Ohiri said the number of women accessing emergency obstetric services increased from 19,270 when the programme began in 2025 to approximately 53,000 in October 2026.
The neonatal programme also expanded from 646 beneficiaries during its pilot phase to about 11,000 newborns.
On obstetric fistula treatment, Ohiri said nearly 6,000 women had received care, including surgery, transportation, follow-up services and health insurance enrolment.
“Your first thing is to keep them alive. Save their lives first. Then ensure they have access to other care, because a human being is more than the condition they just presented with,” he said.
He added that the NHIA was working to improve service quality through revised provider tariffs, facility accreditation, complaints tracking and measures to address delays in emergency treatment.
The authority plans to expand the programmes in 2027, with greater attention to service quality and nationwide coverage.
Kano State Commissioner for Health, Dr Abubakar Labaran Yusuf, said recorded maternal deaths in the state fell from 1,025 in 2023 to 588 in 2026, representing a reduction of more than 30 per cent.
He attributed the reported improvement to government interventions, support from development partners and the involvement of traditional and community leaders.
Dr Yusuf said the state had introduced community-based identification and referral of pregnant women, while engaging religious and traditional leaders to address cultural barriers that discourage facility-based deliveries.
He added that Kano had strengthened primary healthcare facilities, expanded emergency obstetric services and introduced clinical mentoring for health workers.
According to him, more than 7,000 women had been successfully managed without developing complications following the interventions.
The figures presented at the review indicate progress, although sustained monitoring will be necessary to establish whether the reduction can be maintained across communities and healthcare facilities.
Addressing financing challenges, Dr Bushrah Alam of the Global Financing Facility urged governments to protect domestic funding for reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health, particularly as development assistance declines.
She said budgetary commitments must translate into actual spending that reaches healthcare facilities and intended beneficiaries.
Dr Alam also called on state governments to meet their co-financing obligations under the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCFP) to strengthen emergency obstetric care programmes.
She further urged development partners to channel resources through government budgets and align their support with national priorities under the Sector-Wide Approach.
The call highlights a central challenge for Nigeria’s health system: announcing funding commitments is not enough if the money is not released, spent effectively and reflected in better services for patients.
Dr Mary Brantuo, Team Lead and Coordinator for Strategic Health Policy and Planning at the World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Office in Nigeria, said improving maternal health required adequate financing, integrated services and quality healthcare.
She identified skilled birth attendance as a major challenge, noting that only about 50 per cent of Nigerian women had access to skilled birth attendants.
Brantuo called for stronger community health worker systems, improved clinical competence and more effective maternal, perinatal and child death surveillance.
She also advocated integrating sexual and reproductive health services into routine healthcare contacts to improve access and continuity of care.
The three-day Joint Annual Review is assessing health sector performance and progress under the 2023–2027 Health Sector Renewal and Universal Health Coverage Compact.
