Growing Community Mobilisation Drives Increased Family Planning Uptake in Adamawa State
By Gloria Abutu
Family planning is a cost-effective intervention in the prevention of maternal, infant and child mortality.
It is estimated that about 1.8 million child deaths could be averted in developing countries if there is a three-year interval between all pregnancies.
According to the District Health Information System (DHIS), acceptors of child birth spacing in Adamawa state grew to 52,627 in the first quarter of 2024.
A visit to some health facilities in the state revealed that more families have embraced modern child birth spacing methods to enable them manage their families effectively.
At the Primary Health Care Centre in Sangere, facility manager Nafama Dan Janhol observed that more women, some accompanied by their husbands, now visit the Centre to access family planning services.
She said, “Years back, women were not coming out, but now because of increased awareness, more women are now coming for services, some men even come with their wives to access services.”
“We used to record about 35, but since our mobilizers started going out, we now have about 200 women visiting to access services,” she noted.
Irish Isaac is the Assistant facility manager at the Primary Health Care Centre in Jabbi-Lamba.
She noted that many women, including adolescents in the community, have subscribed to family planning, saying that about 200 women and adolescents access services monthly.
She however appealed for provision of adequate family planning commodities and other equipment to make her work easier.
“We need materials, we want to have different unit for counselling.This place is too small, so we use the labour room if we want to insert IUD. We need family planning department on its own.
Sometimes we lack commodities so we always ask women to go and come back for their choice,” she lamented.
Some beneficiaries of family planning initiative in Adamawa state shared their experiences.
According to Faiza Ahmad, she accessed free family planning services, which have helped her spaced her children effectively and manage her family efficiently.
“I visited the health care centre with the consent of my husband. I opted for implants and I did not notice any side effect. I had it removed after 3 years and I conceived again,” she said.
“It has helped me to space my children very well and relieved me of the stress of having unwanted pregnancy,” she added.
For Sadiya Faruk and Rose Hilton, Family Planning is the way to go in view of the prevailing economic situation.
“My husband accompanied me to the hospital. I experienced a little bleeding for a while, but I’m fine now,” said Rose.
Jamila Abdulrahman and Mohammed Bawuro are Community Mobilizers
trained by the Adamawa State Primary Health Care Development Agency with support of The Challenge Initiative (TCI).
They noted that their efforts have led to more families embracing modern child birth spacing methods in the state.
They however urged government to ensure a consistent supply of commodities to meet beneficiaries’ needs so as to improve family planning services in Adamawa state.
TCI’s Program Manager, Adamawa state office, Godiya Yusuf Waziri described the uptake of family planning in Adamawa state as successful.
According to him, “Adamawa state is doing well because there is great improvement in terms of awareness on child birth spacing in the state.
A lot of people are aware of services and where to access the services.”
“In terms of uptake, Adamawa is one of the top three contributors to the national overall number of service uptake in the last quarter. We are doing well, but we need to do more,”he said.
He therefore advocated provision of necessary commodities and equipment to facilities in order to enhance family planning service delivery in the state.
