The United Nations Population Fund has handed family planning materials to the Kano government.

Audu Alayande, assistant representative and reproductive health specialist at UNFPA, said handing over the materials in Kano on Thursday would bridge the demand gap for planning products.

Mr Alayande said UNFPA was aware of Kano’s severe scarcity of family planning materials, which could affect Nigeria’s drive to achieve the 27 per cent modern contraceptive prevalence rate by 2030.

He commended the Gates Foundation for providing $30 million in support to provide commodities to Kano, Kaduna and Lagos.

The commissioner of Health, Abubakar Yusuf, thanked UNFPA for the support and promised that the commodities would be distributed to health facilities.

Mr Yusuf reminded the officials handling the distribution that the commodities were not for sale, adding that the name and number of every beneficiary should be documented for easy tracking.

“These items are not for sale and I don’t want to see even a syringe in the market.

“We are going to use a utilisation register so that any person who benefits should have her name and phone number written for easy tracking,’” the commissioner said.

(NAN)