Raphael Ede No fewer than 239,795 families in Enugu State have access to family planning services, the Enugu State Ministry of Health has revealed. The IntegratE Project Regional Programme Manager for the Southern Region, comprising Lagos and Enugu, Jennifer Ladokun, made this known during a one-day Enugu State IntegratE Mid-Project Dissertation Meeting. He said this was made possible through the state Ministry of Health, in conjunction with the IntegratE Project, made up of five partners – Society for Family Health; Population Council; An Impact; Nivi, and the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria Foundation.
Ladokun explained that the IntegratE Project, which began in 2021, had provided women with over 10,103 oral pills as well as 190,878 condoms to assist in their sexual and reproductive health. Also, about 303 health personnel and about 105 people without proper medical knowledge like the patent medical dealers, popularly known as chemists, were trained and offered medicare. She noted that sexual and reproductive health was important, which is why the five partners, including the Enugu State government as well as the PSN, came together to kick-start the project.
Ladokun said that the project ensured that they built the capacity of those they trained to enable them to offer good family planning services. She said that the exodus of quality medical health personnel from Nigeria to overseas for greener pastures, thereby leaving a lacuna, was what prompted the training of the m.
