More women going for family planning in Yobes’s Bade LGA – MCH Coordinator
By Muhammad Maitela, Damaturu
The Coordinator of Maternal and Child Healthcare (MCH), who is also overseeing the family planning programme in Bade local government area of Yobe state, Hajiya Binta Yerima, has said that more families in the area have embraced birth spacing unlike in previous years.
Hajiya Bints said in an interview with The Syndicate that “even villagers are not left behind, because they are visiting our centres to receive family planning commodities on a daily basis”.
The coordinator explained that they sensitised pregnant women visiting hospitals and health facilities on the benefits of birth spacing.
“We take the advantage to convince them about the benefits and importance of birth spacing.
“We are always enlightening them that family planning will help the mother and the child to have good health, because we realized that some women, after three months of giving birth, will start a new ovulation period, which means they can be pregnant again.
“Family planning and birth spacing allow them to breastfeed their baby in sufficient time, and they will be energetic and healthy.”
She said that they distribute the free commodities every two months to the 23 health facilities in Bade Local Government.
“It’s free, but sometimes due to the high demand we experience shortage of the commodities,” Hajiya Binta added.
The coordinator appreciated the efforts and roles played by Yobe State Government and partners, saying that their timely support and supply of the commodities and equipment has led to remarkable achievements and improvemeng in maternal and child care, as well as the family planning programme.
Our reporter gathered from the health centres in Sabon Gari and Katuzu wards in Gashua, that the programme is making progress as more husbands now allow their wives to apply birth spacing and family planning.
“Due to this achievement, every month we register more than 180 women in Katuzu health facility, but when there is shortage of commodities, we register 120 to 130 per month,” a health worker, Malama Hajara Musa said.
Hajiya Habiba Adam, a resident of Sabon Gari, Gashua said, she accepted birth spacing and family planning, “because it gives a mother space to nurture her child, and be in good health.”
Another housewife from Katuzu in Gashua, Aisha Aliyu said women in the area are increasingly getting the nod of their husbands to go for family planning, “having realised that it is a good initiative, and it will allow women to have birth spacing and control”.
