A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), The Challenge Intiative (TCI) has advocated for child-spacing for a healthy and wealthy families in the society.
It is against this backdrop that the organisation stressed the need for an increase in support from States as well as Local Government Councils across Nigeria through timely release of bugetery allocation, proper funding of child-spacing and family planning.
The organisation stressed the need for child-spacing and timely release of budgets earmarked for funding of child-spacing at 3- Day Advocacy Workshop it has organised and held in Abuja.
The event attracted cross section of participants from the Ministry of Health, Primary Health Development Agencies, Civil Soviety Organisations (CSO's), the Media and the Traditional Institutions who made presentations on behalf of their various states.
Speaking at the event, one of the Leading Resource Persons who also spoke on behalf of the organisers, Dorcas Akila, said that no woman deserves to die while giving life to another person.
Dorcas said " Issues surrounding family planning or child-spacing has some myths and misconceptions. Therefore, there is need to effectively engage decision and policy makers towards changing the narratives".
She called for an increase in the involvement of traditional and religious leaders as well as the Media whom she described as a key partner towards child-spacing or family planning as well as maternal mortality programmes and activities.
According to her, her organisation "The Challenge Initiative" which is founded by Bill and Mellinda Gates Foundation through John Hopskin Centre for Communications Programme and being implemented in Nigeria, was put up with a view to increase advocacy and engage participants to come up with acceptable data and true informations from states that through policy briefs and fact sheets concerning each of the participating States.
She noted that bringing participants from Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, Jigawa, Akwa Ibom and Sokoto has increased skills on approach to techniques that will ease their advocacy approach to critical stakeholders in their various States.
Dorcas Akila said despite the challenges in indices concerning family planning in Nigeria, yet both the two major religions, Christianity and Islam encourage child spacing so as to allow both mother and child have a healthy living.
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