Gombe Doctors, Nurses, Midwives Receive Training On Long Family Planning Contraceptives

By Najib Sani, Gombe 

Rotary Action Group for Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health (RMCH) in collaboration with the Gombe State Government, has built the capacity of doctors, nurses, midwives and Community Health Extension Workers(CHEWs) in the state on Family Planning Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptive (FP/LARC) in a 5-day intensive training under its “Together For Healthy Families in Nigeria Project (THFN).”

During the closing of the training, the Country Director of Rotary Nigeria, Professor Emmanuel Lufadeju, the project’s goal is to improve maternal, reproductive and child health in Nigeria pointing out that a high birth rate puts the lives of mothers at risk and eventually increases maternal and infant death rate.

He added that when women have uninterrupted pregnancies without spacing, it increases the risk of birth related complications at their next pregnancies which also puts the life of their babies at risk. 

In their remarks, the Executive Secretary Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Abdurahman Shuaibu and Gombe State Rotary Representative, Mr Mohammed Dantata Ndus, who is also the Permanent Secretary Gombe State Ministry for Local Government and Community Development, commended Rotary’s continued efforts towards improving maternal health care in the state.

They enjoined the participants to make best use of knowledge and practices acquired during the training with a view to guiding the public on effective family planning.

They also urged them to build their confidence and competency in delivering quality child spacing services.

According to them, the Family Planning Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptive training aimed to improve access to family planning services, reducing the country's unacceptably high maternal mortality rate. 

"It seeks to address the unmet need for contraceptives, providing effective options that cater to diverse needs. The goal was to educate women and men about available choices, enabling them to prevent unintended pregnancies, space births, or stop childbirth with autonomy and informed decision-making".

Our correspondent reports that the participants were also engaged in hands on practical sessions conducted at the Zainab Bulkachuwa Women and Children Hospital, Pantami Primary Health Care Centre and Town Maternity in the state capital where they were allowed to render those services learnt during the training.

Participants were selected from Primary Health Care Centres (PHCCs) in Kaltungo Local Government, one of the areas Rotary is implementing Reproductive and Maternal Child Health in the state.