Group takes family planning campaign to men in Borno

Isah Ojo Maiduguri

A non-governmental organisation, the Challenge Initiative, has said it is sensitising men on family planning to promote shared decision-making between couples on child-birth spacing in Borno state

The group in collaboration with Devcom expressed serious concern over maternal mortality rate in the state, while stating that involving men was crucial to ensure collaboration between couples on family planning decision

Speaking on Wednesday in a Media round-table dialogue in Maiduguri, the Borno state TCI Coordinator, Dr. Yusuf Ahmadu said about 8 local governments in the state are benefiting from the campaign.

According to him, the campaign which has majorly focused on women is not leaving behind men

Speaking on the men’s adherence ratio, he said “It is a gradual thing, many are gradually keying into it”

“Men are very important in the process. We have seen cases where some women are interested but their husband decline it. So how can it be effective if the agreement is not mutual. This is why men must be made to also see the importance” he noted

On the performance of the campaign, Yusuf said 239, 641 persons have been reached

In his words, ” Through our social mobilisation efforts, which we engaged 11, 362 social mobilisation activities, we have reached 239, 641 persons across 8 local governments”

The Coordinator while lamenting the rate of mortality death in the state, said Borno has the highest ratio in Nigeria

“In the whole of Nigeria, Borno state has the highest maternal mortality rate. In every 100,000 women that gives birth, 1, 437 will die. This was some years ago. However, now it has improved to around 500 and something from the 1437, so we can see the progress of our campaigns”

“We are employing every strategy to complete this advocacy, both formal and informal institution, if we have our way, we want to reach everyone in this selected local government areas” he said

He urged media professionals, religious organisations and experts to lend their voices to the family planning campaign to reduce mortality death in the state

“As media, you have a role, likewise the religious body and the government. It is not about when our campaign will stop. We want to see the initiative run even years after we conclude the program, ” he stated.