The Directorof Gombe state Primary Health Care Development Agency (GSPHCDA), Alhaji Ibrahim Bako, has said only 40 per cent of women in the state are subscribed to child spacing commodities.
Bako stated this in Bauchi during a three day workshop to members of Gombe state Family Planning Advocacy Working Group on Advance Family Planning Smart Advocacy, organised by Pathfinder International in support by the Bill and Melinder Gate through Johns Hopkins University Blooubeig.
He said based on the state strategic plan for child spacing developed in 2016, it was expected that the percentage would reach 26 per cent by the year 2020.
“In 2018 the percentage is only 10.6 and now it’s 40 percent following the effort put in place by stakeholders in this direction”, he said.
He added that the percentage now is encouraging following the interventions by international organisations in the state on the child spacing in the state.
He urges religious leaders to intensify campaign on child spacing.
“Preach the gospel of child spacing to your followers because people respect the words of religious leaders,” he said.
On his part, the Chairman, Gombe state Working Group on Family Planning, and Chief Executive Director of Saif Advocacy Foundation, Mallam Alhassan Yaya, said subscribing to child spacing would reduce maternal and child mortality by about 30 percent as the state has the higher rate of maternal mortality in the North-east zone.
He commended development partners working in that direction for their commitment, appealing to the state government to release the amount budgeted for child spacing.
Also speaking, the Senior Program Advisor of Pathfinder International, Dr. Sakina Bello, said child spacing does not limit the number of children one intends to have, it only makes the child and mother healthier.
