BlogReport

The Fancy Steel Pot of Family Planning

Photo: Mrs Kareema at her business place, her colleagues and BALSDA reporter.

A lot has been said about Family Planning in Nigeria but, who has heard? How far does the voice of Family Planning advocates get? What are the opinions of other people about family planning, especially in rural areas? These are relevant questions needed to be asked for a good survey in order to appropriately strategize channels of disseminating Family Planning information and commodities. The advocacy for Family Planning in Nigeria is about like a fancy steel pot with an invisible hole. Family Planning advocates have made efforts in ensuring accurate awareness going as far as changing the term Family Planning to Child Spacing, relating it to over population, abject poverty as well as hammering on health challenges for the main purpose of being sensitive to the culture of the people they meet and how understanding they could be. A lot has been done and there are more yet to be done.

Photo: Mrs Kareema at her business place, her colleagues and BALSDA reporter.
Photo: Mrs Kareema at her business place, her colleagues and BALSDA reporter.

BALSDA Team met Mrs Kareema, a mother of 2 who resides in Nasarawa State and goes to Garki Village market, Abuja to do business. Mrs Kareema is pregnant with her 3rd child and would like to have one more after that to give her a total of 4 children. Her first child is 8, her 2nd child is 5 and she’s heavy with the 3rd one. Mrs Kareema has never heard of Family Planning before though, her children are well spaced. She delivered her daughter and son without the help of any medical centre and she is still not willing to go to the hospital to deliver her 3rd child. She usually leave her matrimonial home for her home of origin after delivery and return whenever she feels strong enough to take in again. Mrs Kareema is not aware of any Family Planning Commodity that could help her prevent pregnancy even while staying with her husband after delivery and she’s not willing to use any of the commodities now that she knows because she feels money would be requested from her in return for these commodities at the hospital.

Haka zaku dinga cewa abubuwan kyauta ne, amma sai munje asibiti ace mu kawo kudi

(Mrs Kareema spoke in Hausa Language)

That is how you people will be saying the commodities are free, when we go to hospital now, they will start saying we should bring money

(English translation)

Though Mrs Kareema has been able to space her children but she is yet to understand the success route to success destination. She knows what she wants but lacks awareness on how best she can get it. Her method of child spacing is virtually not safe and obviously not convenient. From her story, it is very possible that her husband might have other wives because the possibility of Mrs Kareema’s husband leaving her to go back to her family home after delivery would have been very slim and almost impossible. There is absolute need for Family Planning awareness to get as far as the routes of the likes of Kareema. A successful communication is that which gets to the right audience effectively. Family Planning advocacy would be more effective when efforts are made to reach out to the grass root where many have never heard of Family Planning.

There are many Mrs Kareemas out there who might be doing other risky things such as unsafe abortion to space their children and many who does nothing but keep multiplying. Even when much has been done already, more effort is required to seal every hole on the fancy steel pot of Family Planning, making the green dot visible and assessable to all and building a stronger Nigeria with healthier women and children. These can be achieved through effortless sensitization channelled to the right people who are very much in need of Family Planning commodities. Using the likes of Kareema to reach out to other Kareemas would pass a strong message; that is, enlightening those who have suffered from lack of awareness to be much aware enough to stand as Family Planning advocates and save other women. Follow up with health centres who are supposed to give out Family Planning commodities for free to ensure that people are not paying for the commodities. Regular interactive programmes on radios in indigenous languages will also help many at the grass root level get informed in order not to be deformed. Let’s stand tall to help other Kareemas in our Nation.

One thought on “The Fancy Steel Pot of Family Planning

  1. This is lovely, we hope the government and Civil Society organizations will do the needful to help all other Karemas.
    Welldone!

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