President, Medical Women Association of Nigeria, Dr Minnie Oseji, has urged the Federal Government to increase funding of family planning following the decision of the British Government to withdraw the annual £3m into the basket fund for family planning commodities in Nigeria.
Oseji in a statement, asked the Federal Government to step in and fill the gap to prevent negative consequences of poor funding of family planning.
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She said the decision of British Government to withdraw the fund would cause dire demographic challenges for an already overpopulated country.
She noted that several experts in the Nigerian maternal health space had questioned the timing and merit of this decision as the withdrawal of the family planning funding in Nigeria would have a harmful impact on the UK government flagship Lafia health project.
“Between 2012 and 2020, the UK government pledged and paid into the Nigeria family planning commodities basket fund a total of £21m for the procurement of family planning commodities. The UK’s government support contributed to saving the lives of millions of Nigerian women who would otherwise be unable to delay pregnancies and be at risk of maternal death.
“Nigerian women could only expect one-fifth of this sum for 2021, with no certainties about future funding. So, Nigeria is facing an 80 percent cut from the UK government’s contribution to the procurement for family planning commodities. This is coming at a time when families are increasingly unable to meet the out-of-pocket expenditure for commodities, cannulas, and cough syrup,” she said.
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