Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo state

Jethro Ibileke/Benin

Over 70 specialised mobile phones have been deployed to family planning service providers in Edo state by a non governmental organization (NGO), Marie Stopes International, for data reporting.

The Regional Manager (South-South), of Marie Stopes International, Mr. Toochi Eustach Ohaji, who made the disclosure Tuesday in Benin, said the project was aimed at raising awareness of and the use of contraceptive in Edo state.

He disclosed that the project was funded by the USAID, in the collaboration with Marie Stopes International, Palladium Group and Marie Stopes International (Nigeria).

“What we are doing today is the dissemination of the Family Health Plus project that was inmplimented in Edo state. Among the 36 states of the federal republic of Nigeria.

“It is a health system-strengthening project that supported the state ministry of health all over the country, including Edo state.

“What we did today was to share the lessons we have learned over the past three years of the project, the achievements we have made, some of the challenges and the way forward,” Ohaji said.

According to him, one of the key successes of the project is that the Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR), of the state has been moved to a higher level.

“And to achieve this objective, we trained master trainers, we have service providers, we worked very well with the state ministry of health and those of the local government councils.

“One of the other things that the training have achieved is the training on mobile District Health Information System (DHIS). Android phones were deployed to about 77 service providers.

“This is to help them do data reporting. It is also synchronised with the National DHIS, which means that whatever service that is provided by these our service providers, it is reported with these Android phones,” Ohaji said.

He further disclosed that the phones are also capable of reporting other health areas, like immunization, river blindness, roll back malaria, school health services, HIV and the rest of them.

“So, it’s a key achievement from this support from the USAID and we are happy that this project even suppassed the set objective in the state, we are happy that this event is a success,” he added.

In her presentation, the state coordinator of Family Health Plus, Mrs. Umeh Ngozi Ndukwe, noted that awareness on family planning is still very poor in Nigeria and not always accessible to many.

She disclosed that the project which lasted for three years in the state, was aimed at moving sexual health forward and to help couples have children by choice and not by chance.

Ndukwe said the objective of the project which trained about 100 field workers chosen from primary health centers from across the state, was to strengthen the overall healthy system of the nation, to strengthen planning uptake and raise the contraceptive prevalence rate to about 40 percent by 2018.

The permanent secretary, Edo state ministry of health, Dr. Peter Ugbodaga, was represented at the event by the deputy director, primary health care, Dr. (Mrs.) Oniye Bello, pledged the readiness of the state to sustain the project.