Oyo State government said it will replicate the Society for Family Health’s A360 project across all local governments in the state with the aim to better educate adolescents and increase their access to voluntary modern contraception at the Primary Health Care Centres.
According to the Nigerian Tribune, Executive secretary, Oyo State Primary Healthcare Board, Dr Muideen Olatunji, who made this known in Ibadan during the end of the A360 project dissemination ceremony, said this is to ensure that adolescents and young people achieve their goals in life while avoiding unwanted pregnancies.
According to Dr Olatunji, results of A360 project in the two pilot local government areas indicated that many adolescent girls who are presently on the path of losing focus on their future dreams due to unwanted pregnancy, bad peer pressure and illiteracy could also turn out to be responsible members of the public if the project is replicated across the state.
He added, “This is like a testimonial that tends to reveal unto us the true position, an aspect we tend to overlook. We can now extrapolate that over the 33 local government areas in the state and see how many young adults we have missed; how many adolescents have been so vulnerable and whose life could have been truncated by one reason on the other either by family challenge or by peer pressure.”
Dr Olatunji lauded Governor Seyi Makinde’s administration for mandating a minimum of 7.5 per cent of the local government administration funds to be devoted to primary health care services as it would make health care accessible and affordable to the people in the community, particularly adolescents who reside at the grassroots.
Regional manager, SFH’s A360 Project, Mr Tunde Ogungbenro, declared that the project’s preliminary study showed that sex and pregnancy, barriers to contraception and poor understanding of adolescents world are obstacles to ensuring adolescents achieve their goals in life.
Ogungbenro said the focus of A360 is to ensure an enhanced contraceptive service delivery for girls’ unmet needs and those who are tagged to be vulnerable and poor in society.
According to him, “Sex and pregnancy should not be an issue if there is an enabling environment and the policy supports young persons who are already sexually active to access contraceptives, without any hindrance.”
