Minister of State for Health, Olorunimbe Mamora, says the ministry will soon introduce the Depot Medroxyprogesterone Acetate Subcutaneous Injection (DMPA-SC) which allows self-injection in hard-to-reach places.
Mamora disclosed this at a zoom meeting on the National Family Planning Media Campaign Launch in Abuja on Thursday.
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“This is the process of introducing scaling up of new family planning commodities to expand Nigeria’s Method Mix to allow for free choice.
“The product which has been formulated to allow for self-injection is considered a game-changer in Nigeria’s family planning landscape.
“It is indeed very useful for ensuring continuation subsequent doses in hard-to-reach areas as clients will be given some vials to take home after some training on its use,” Mamora said.
The charity PATH has championed the development and delivery of DMPA-SC, a lower-dose, easy-to-use injectable contraceptive that protects against pregnancy for three months.
Sayana Press, the DMPA-SC product available to Family Planning 2020 countries, is manufactured by Pfizer and combines the drug and needle in a prefilled injection system, which was originally developed by PATH.
The product is now available in at least 20 FP2020 countries and is approved by regulatory agencies in more than 40 countries worldwide, including in the European Union.
Mamora said that family planning was an important intervention for promoting proper timing and spacing of pregnancies as well as assisting to achieve pregnancies where challenges existed.
“It also promotes maternal and child survival with a potential for reducing maternal and child mortality and morbidity by 30 per cent,” he said.
Mamora said that a successful implementation was key to achieving the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Speaking, the National Coordinator Rotary, Reproductive Maternal and Child Health (RMCH), Prof. Emmanuel Lufadeju said that the overall goal for the training was to inform all sexually active women and men that they could freely access family planning products and services.
“Effective family planning can reduce maternal morbidity and mortality resulting from child birth and pregnancy complications substantially,” he said.
Also, Adaora Anyanwutaku, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Culture, said that the objective of the campaign would go a long way to educate and enlighten all sexually active women and men to access family planning products and services.
Anyanwutaku said that the media campaign was aimed at the entire populace using the multi-media channels like TV, posters, fliers, billboards, brochures, audio messaging, churches and mosques.
“You will agree with me that there is an increasing level of maternal morbidity and mortality resulting from childbirth and pregnancy complications.
“This ugly situation calls for public information and enlightenment not only from the media but also from all relevant stakeholders and our international partners,” she said.
Anyanwutaku said the public campaign by the media and stakeholders would contribute to realisation of better and smaller manageable families.
According to her, the combination of these channels will help reduce pregnancy complications substantially and improve the health status of our mothers and their children. (NAN)
