In Enugu, 239,795 families have access to family planning
The Enugu state government has made family planning more accessible to approximately 239,795 families in the state by working with IntegratE Project and four other organizations.
Beginning in 2021, the IntegratE Project gave women access to 190,878 condoms and over 10,103 oral tablets to support their sexual and reproductive health.
In addition, the Project taught around 305 medical professionals and approximately 105 non-medical individuals that provide Medicare services, such as patent medical dealers, also referred to as chemists.
The five partners, which included the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria and the Enugu state government, came together to launch the project because Jennifer Ladokun, the IntegratE Project Regional Programme Manager for the Southern Region, which includes Lagos and Enugu, described sexual and reproductive health as crucial. She made this disclosure in Enugu during a one-day Enugu State IntegratE Mid-Project Dissertation Meeting, held at Adig Suites.
According to Ladokun, the Project made sure that the people it educated had the competence to provide high-quality family planning services.
She said that the departure of skilled medical professionals from Nigeria to other countries in search of better opportunities had left a gap that led to the training of medical workers in family planning.
“We had a health provider exodus that took place overseas, and we had to train medical assistants to provide healthcare.”
Speaking at the event, Prof. Emmanuel Ikechukwu Obi, the state commissioner for health for Enugu, was accompanied by Barr. Mrs. Lovina Ene, the ministry’s legal head. Prof. Obi praised the partners for their tireless efforts to ensure that the state receives better, high-quality healthcare, particularly in the area of sexual and reproductive health.
Obi praised them on their accomplishments since the Program’s inception three years prior, in 2021.
In a same vein, Mrs. Ifeyinwa Ani-Osheku, Executive Secretary of the Enugu State Primary Healthcare Program, praised the partners for their joint efforts to address sexual and reproductive health. According to her, the IntegratE was designed for high-end providers of family planning services.
The IntegratE Mid-Project Dissertation Meeting, according to Chief Deputy Project Director of the Society for Family Health, SFH, Pharmacist Michael Alagbile, was organized so that the family planning stakeholders could get a scorecard detailing the project’s accomplishments since its start.
He said that they had been able to train medical professionals who could then instruct the public on “injectibles and implants.”
