More women in Lagos State are embracing family planning methods as a result of economic consideration CSNewspaper findings.
Greater number of couples seeking support on childbearing decision-making are flocking the Family Planning Clinic of the Lagos Island Maternity and expressing their newfound love for family planning methods, the report says.
Mrs. Adelakun Adeola, 27 and Mrs. Modile Kofoworola-Olajide 32, (real identity protected) were among several mothers who are first timers at the clinic.
Mrs. Adelakun Adeola who came to the family planning centre with her two–month old baby said her desire to space her children was due to financial constraints.
Similarly, Mrs. Modile Kofoworola-Olajide, remarked that hers was a low-income earning family.
“I heard about family planning through a friend and she told me to come here,” Mrs. Adeola stated. “She told me that family planning will help me space my children especially now that my husband has no job to take care of this one that I have.’’
She added “We are struggling to eat now, if I mistakenly get pregnant, it means that we are in trouble”.
Mrs. Modile Kofoworola – Olajide said she is not ready to have another child until the next three years.
“I am here for family planning. I want to have another child in three years to enable me take care of my baby and myself”.
Another family planning client, Mrs. Musilimot Oluwole ((real identity protected)) explained that she came to the clinic as a first timer to seek assistance after her first child.
“My husband is a mechanic and I am a petty trader. Business is not moving well, everybody knows that doing business in Nigeria is no longer easy. I am happy that family planning is free.”
According to World Health Organisation (WHO), family planning allows individuals and couples to anticipate and attained their desired number of children and the spacing and timing of their births. This, WHO said, could be achieved through the use of contraceptive methods.
In the 2013 National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS), Nigeria’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) stood at 5.5%, which family planning experts said would undermine the growth of the nation if not urgently addressed by authorities concerned.
Some of the clients such as Mrs. Bola Abas (Name withheld) a mother of three, said a delay in embracing family planning was already taking a toll on her household.
She stated regrettably that feeding her three kids was already a problem to the family.
“To have another child in this kind of economic situation in the country will put us into serious financial burden’’, she further explained.
Family planning could prevent at least 34% maternal death if every proactive government would embrace scaling up of family planning services as one of the maternal survival strategy.
According to NDHS 2013, Maternal Mortality Rate in Nigeria is at 576/100,000 live births, while lifetime risk of maternal death is 1:23%. Meanwhile, Nigeria contributes about 14% of the global burden of maternal deaths with about 33,000 Nigerian women dying annually from pregnancy-related causes.
Statistics from the 2013 NDHS, revealed that everyday about 111 women and girls in Nigeria die as a result of preventable pregnancy while birth related complications amount to 5 women dying every hour. To reverse the alarming indices, the use, access, and expansion of family planning are the way forward.
The family planning commodities are free in Lagos State.
ALSO READ – REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH/FAMILY PLANNING SERVICES
Apart from the economic gains of family planning, use of family planning methods saves lives and averts unintended pregnancies and their complications.
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