By Muhammad Amaan
Nigeria’s Federal Government has urged state governments to join it in filling the $32 million funding gap for the procurement of Family Planning (FP) commodities in 2024 to help meet up the FP 2030 target.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, made the appeal on Tuesday in Abuja during the FCT Dissemination of National Guideline on State-funded Procurement of FP Commodities.
Represented by the Head, Reproductive Health Division, Mr Lawrence Anyanwu, the minister said that the projected amount needed to procure commodities for FP in 2024 stood at 51 million dollars.
According to him, there is an assurance level commitment by partners for 19 million dollars already with some orders for some commodities already placed, leaving a gap of 32 million dollars to be filled.
He added that “the responsibility to do this primarily lies with the Federal Government, the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA).
“So, the exercise we have done here today is to sensitise FCT authorities on the need to appropriate funds in the 2024 Appropriation Bill for FP, in line with the recently approved provision by the National Council on Health (NCH) for the federal and state governments to establish and fund budget line for FP.
“So, if every state provides some money in addition to what the Federal Government is providing, we should be able to fully address this $32 million funding.
“It is important for every state to implement this NCH approved mandatory establishment and funding of budget line for FP.”
Prof. Pate explained that the guideline was developed as a major intervention to secure the contributions of governments of the 36 states and the FCT toward realising the objective of ensuring uninterrupted availability of FP commodities at the service delivery points.
He added that it would improve inclusive and holistic implementation of the National Family Planning Programme, especially in solving the commodity availability challenge.
The minister said “the Federal Government has set the tone with some provisions made in the 2024 Appropriation Bill for procurement of FP commodities in renewed effort at fulfilling its commitment to pay annual counterpart contribution for commodities procurement.
“It is our fervent hope that the 36 states and the FCDA will take a cue from this and appropriate funds for FP in their 2024 appropriations.
“Our sincere expectation is that FCTA would consolidate its current collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), USAID’s Global Health Supply Chain- Procurement and Supply Management Project and other partners to fast-track the implementation of the contents of this national guideline.”
The UNFPA National FP Analyst, Dr Ummulkhulthum Bojoga, said “it is time to explore domestic resource mobilisation for FP commodities and for states to contribute to the procurement of commodities.”
She also said that for every dollar spent on FP commodities and maternal health, government could save up to 8.4 dollars return on investment.
According to her, the benefits of FP include prevention of maternal and infant mortality and morbidity associated with unintended pregnancy, meeting unmet need for contraceptives to further reduce rate of maternal mortality by 68 per cent and newborn mortality by 85 per cent.
She said unintended pregnancies would drop by 77 per cent if all unmet needs for modern contraceptives were met.
Dr Bojoga added that the past 12 years of FP commodities distribution in the FCT had made some health impacts, such as aversion of 358 maternal deaths, aversion of 76,065 unintended pregnancies, aversion of 29,742 unplanned births and 31,101 unsafe abortions.
She identified increased demand and decreased supply, rising stock out rate and dwindling donor funding as some of the challenges encountered in delivering FP commodities to FCT residents.
The FP guidelines are to standardise, document and institutionalise the processes of forecasting, quantification, procurement, warehousing and inventory management, distribution, pipeline monitoring, service delivery and utilisation of commodities in the country.
