United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on Thursday donated family planning commodities to the Ogun State government.

Akinkunmi Akinbajo, the maternal health/family planning analyst at the Lagos liaison office of the fund, presented the donation at the State Central Medical Store in Abeokuta.

He said the state remained the second to benefit from the gesture, adding that Ogun had shown interest in the sexual and reproductive health of women and girls.

Mr Akinbajo explained that the state made a procurement through UNFPA, and the agency was on the ground to hand over the commodities to the state.

He stressed that the commodities will later be distributed to health facilities for the benefit of women.

The analyst said the country had been operating a free policy on family planning commodities and a national basket fund used to buy commodities.

However, he pointed out that due to the widening funding gap, the Federal Ministry of Health decided that states should also contribute to the basket fund to address the gap.

He added, “To ensure the availability of adequate and quality contraceptives, a guideline was developed for state procurement of commodities.

“It is not that states have not been buying commodities, but there was no standard framework for the procurement.”

Mr Akinbajo said the guideline was launched in 2021 with the support of UNFPA to ensure the availability of more resources for the procurement of the

commodities.

In addition, the guideline will standardise procurement, he added.

Responding, the Commissioner for Health, Tomi Coker, reiterated the state government’s commitment to improving the people’s health.

Represented by the ministry’s permanent secretary, Kayode Oladehinde, the commissioner assured that the state would buy more family planning commodities.

(NAN)