At least 587 of the 829 healthcare facilities in Sokoto State provide family planning (FP) services, an official in the state ministry of health said.

Garba Muhammad, the Health Management Information System Officer in the ministry, disclosed this at a capacity-building training on Wednesday in Birnin Kebbi.

The training is tagged “Strategic Data Capacity and Result-Based Reporting for Sustainable Development ” for data and planning officers in Sokoto government ministries and agencies.

The Sokoto State Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning organised the event with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Mr Muhammad said family planning services were available in health facilities across rural and urban settlements.

Mairo Rabiu-Sharif, the reproductive health coordinator at the Sokoto State Ministry of Health, lamented the absence of an active policy on family planning.

Ms Rabiu-Sharif urged stakeholders to contribute to advocating for budgetary provision on FP, stressing that FP takes the largest share of poor practices as one of the health challenges in Nigeria.

The coordinator further called on all the stakeholders to collaborate to end the harmful traditional practices and look at the possibility of using Traditional Birth Attendant (TBAs) on FP services and birth registration in society.

In his presentation, the state secretary of the National Population Commission (NPC), Malami Marafa-Gagi, said Nigeria’s population was rising ahead of other countries with a high percentage of childbirth and low death rates experienced in the country.

Mr Marafa-Gagi said population data were gathered through censuses, surveys, administrative, routine, and research data as the best planning instruments for development planning at all levels.

According to him, child delivery rates are high in Sokoto State, with poor acceptance of family planning services based on the findings. He added that population growth is faster, with about six million people.

(NAN)