No fewer than 4,213 unsafe abortions were averted across the 13 local government areas of Nasarawa State between 2021 and 2023 through the use of modern contraceptives.
The Senior Learning Advisor of the Society for Family Health (SFH), Dr Ibitoye Segun, who revealed this at a one-day Adolescents 360 mid-project dissemination training in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, also said 54 maternal deaths and 228 child deaths were averted in the state.
The training was organised by the state Ministry of Health and Primary Health Care Development Agency (NSPHCDA) in conjunction with SFH, targeting Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH), programming in the state.
Segun, however, maintained that the contraceptives were used under the A360 Amplify Project, being implemented in the state.
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He said that the Matasa Matan Arewa programme, under the A360 project, was designed to provide an enabling environment for married adolescent girls, aged 15 to 19, and to have access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services.
The Managing Director, SFH, Dr Omokhudu Idogho, who was represented by the Project Director, Paediatrics and Adolescent Programme of SFH, Mrs. Aisha Dadi, narrated that the meeting served as a channel to share learnings, achievements, successes and insights from the A360 Amplify.
According to Idogho, A360 was a five-year project with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Children Investment Fund Foundation.
He said the project had in no small measure overcome barriers to access and use of modern contraceptives by married adolescent girls, aged 15 to 19.
He said the A360 Amplify had made a significant impact on the lives of adolescent girls as a result of its collaboration with the state Ministry of Health and NSPHCDA.
Earlier, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Gaza Gomna, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Dr Damian Ali, explained that the effort to adequately enlighten and mentor adolescents on their sexual reproductive health and general well-being was a way to safeguard their future.
He reiterated the commitment of the state government to improve on the achievements already made so far under the A360 project.
On his part, the Executive Secretary, Nasarawa State Health Insurance Agency (NASHIA), Dr Simon Istifanus, advocated for collaboration of SFH to incorporate its Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health services into the state’s health insurance scheme to ensure universal coverage.
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