Background

Voluntary FP is one of the most important health measures a couple and a nation can practice to reduce maternal and infant morbidity and mortality. The prevention of unwanted pregnancies and spacing of births by at least two years has a profound effect on reducing maternal and child mortality. At the London 2012 summit, Nigeria pledged to increase CPR to 36% in 2018 by contributing 11.35USD million annually to procure RH commodities which are distributed among the 36 state and the FCT of the federation, Kano inclusive.

Current Status

As a result of the awareness creation, women of reproductive age are accessing the FP services in both public and private health facilities. The demand for the FP services, in some instances, is hampered by commodity stock outs in both the government and private health facilities. Investigation conducted on the reason for the commodity stock out revealed that the FP commodities are procured and supplied to the states by the Federal Ministry of Health. States have no right to procure FP commodities other than consumables. These reasons makes the supply inadequate and leads stock outs that cannot be addressed at the state level due unavailability of the commodities.

Achievements

Kano state has adopted three most important national policies on family planning i.e. Task Shifting and Sharing Policy, Free Family Planning Commodity Policy and National Family Planning Blueprint.

Currently, 756 health facilities provide family planning services to women of reproductive age in Kano state with over 500 community health extension workers trained in providing modern contraceptives especially implant and IUD. Kano State and its partners also developed the costed implementation plan (CIP) for family planning activities in the State. KNSG also increased FP budgetary allocation in the 2019 approved budget from 32Million to 82Million Naira (counterpart funding for TCI N50M and FP Funding is N32M)

Rationale for Advocacy

The dramatic increase in the demand for FP services across all social categories of women (rural and urban women) is hampered by stock out at the health facilities. Thus, as a matter of urgency, the state should improvise an alternative way of procuring the commodities for distribution to the state owned facilities all year round. This can only be achieved if Kano State can learn from the good practice in Kaduna State. The Kaduna State Government requested for FG’s waiver to procure FP commodities directly.

There are also data issues for family planning services. Data from secondary health facilities are grossly under reported and other PHCs do not even report consumption data which is used by the FMOH to supply commodities to the State.

Although there is line item for FP in the state annual budget but release of the budgeted and approved amount is still an issue. From 2017 to 2018 the FP budget increased from 15 – 32 million naira but the release remains at 0%.

Recommendations

• Develop roadmap for the implementation of task shifting and task sharing policy in the State.
• Facilitate releases of family planning approved funds
• Ensure data recording and reporting of family planning interventions in the State.
• Seek for a waiver on procurement of family planning commodities
• Continuous training and retraining of health personnel on contraceptive services

Benefits of Family Planning

Public Health Benefits

• Reduce maternal, child mortality and maternal morbidity
• Avert child killer diseases and malnutrition challenges
• Increase family livelihood.

Socio-political Benefits

• Improved human development index for the state
• A healthy population that could add value to the state’s socio-economic development
• Effective public health system at the grass-root level will reduce general health care spending and thus, other state critical health infrastructural needs can be met.

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The Kano PAS Advocacy Coalition

This Policy Brief is a product of the Kano State PAS Advocacy Project. The Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health at Scale (PACFaH@Scale) project Nigeria, referred to as PAS is a health advocacy project anchored by the Nigeria non-profit, the dRPC and implemented directly by local NGOs and health professional associations. The project is not service delivery and it is not awareness creation. Its focus is limited to evidence-based advocacy.  The project’s timeline is 2018 to 2022 and the issue areas of the project are: Routine Immunization, Family Planning, Child Killer Diseases, and Primary Health Care Under One Roof. Focal states of the project are Anambra, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, Niger, Rivers, Taraba and Lagos States. In Kano State, the PAS Advocacy Coalition is made up of various civil society organisations led by Medical Women Association (MWAN), Women in Media Communication Initiative (WIM), National Association of Nurses and Mid-wives Kano State Branch (NANNM), Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN), Kano Emirate Council Committee on Health & Human Development (KECCoHD), Society of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians in Nigeria (SOGON), The Challenge Initiative (TCI), Accountability Mechanism for Maternal and Child health in Kano State (AMMKaS), Youth Environmental Development Association (YEDA) and Facility Health Committee Alliance (FHCA)