By Asma’u Ahmad
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) said it had spent $30 million, (N9.12 billion) to promote family planning and other health interventions in Nigeria.
The Director of Health, Population and Nutrition, USAID Nigeria, Dr. Nancy Lawanthal, announced the commitment when she briefed journalists at the ongoing 4th National Family Planning Conference in Abuja.
Dr. Lawanthal said the agency had made significant investment in reproductive health in Nigeria.
“In Nigeria, USAID has devoted over 30 million dollars on reproductive health. That is significant but it is not just for one aspect of reproductive health service.
“The money was used for promotion of programmes to have behaviour change towards investment in healthcare by private sector operators,” she said.
According to her, intervention in Nigeria is one of the agency’s largest country programmes in the world.
She said that Nigerians were not leading the programme as expected, stressing that no donor had been able to front for USAID in Nigeria.
Lawanthal added that USAID needed stronger commitment from Nigerians to derive the values and benefits of reproductive health services in the country.
She remarked that donors’ commitment was less important than the commitment of Nigerians themselves.
“As donor partners, we also needs to see more resources on the table to create more demand for family planning services in Nigeria,” she said.
