By Adeyinka Adeniran
In a bid to close gaps that may be created due to withdrawal of donor funds by international partners and agencies, Oyo State government on Tuesday said it is planning to commit N60million to the procurement of family planning commodities before the end of the year.
The Executive Secretary, Primary Health Care Board, Dr Muyideen Olatunji made the disclosure while giving a welcome address at the Delivering Innovation in Self-Care (DISC) 2.0 Bi-annuak stakeholders review meeting with officials of the State Ministry of Health and Primary Health Care Board.
The objective of the event organised by the Society for Family Health (SFH) and attended by officials from across the local governments areas of the state was to provide a comprehensive update on the implementation progress of the SFH – Disc 2.0 project in Oyo State, including key milestones achieved and status.
It was also to gather critical insight and lessons learnt directly from.project beneficiaries, so as to inform future strategies and improvement, among other objectives.
Speaking, Dr Olatunji, said the Board is also introducing a drug-revolving scheme whereby minimal cost is placed on family planning services and commodities so as to maintain sustainable service provision across her facilities.
He said, “The state government, in order to close the gaps that are likely to become obvious amidst the withdrawal of support from multiple international partners and donor agencies which we either do or are having in the health sector, as far as family services, family planning services is concerned, we have a plan to commit a minimum of about N60 million before the end of this year to the procurement of family planning commodities.
“Even going beyond that, the state has started through the primary care board, thinking outside the box to see how can we maintain sustainable service provision as far as family planning is concerned. One of the areas we are trying to leverage on is the basic health care provision. We are inculcating the provision of consumables in the work plan for the various primary health care facility that has frontline health care facility. I mean, those ones we designate as basic health care facilities.
“Now, we started that one from the beginning of this year to put into our business plan the provision for consumables. Then again, as part of our sustainability method is that we know that anything that is so free may not be sustainable in the long run.
“So the primary care board has commenced a drug-revolving scheme whereby we are putting not profit-driven but marginal cost on the family planning services, especially when it comes to the issue of the commodities. Those ones that can be managed, some are going to be made free definitely, but some will have a little bit of cost attached to them which is not going to be uniform across the board.
“So the issue of exploitations will now be expunged and any service that we render, it will be obviously pasted on the wall of each facility that even client coming in can actually see what is legitimate for them to pay and the fund that will be collected in this one will be duly receipted.
“So it’s not that some fund will go under the table. And with our working with the partner, especially SFH on this family planning services, it has been of tremendous benefit to the state. And through the SFH and our collaboration, we were able to train about 1,159 service providers to be able to procure services for the willing opticas as far as family planning services is concerned.
“Again, another crucial area is the area of demand generation. And in that aspect, again, the partner has been able to assist us in training about 154 mobilisers to be able to help us generate demand for the family planning services. So you will see that our collaboration with this partner has been of much symbiotic relationship and our data has been able to improve.
“Our personnel have their capacity built and our citizens in the wider community are actually getting services as far as family planning is concerned. So we do this kind of a stakeholder engagement like every six months, minimum about twice in a year, to be able to step back, see what we have done, do a kind of a critical monitoring and evaluation. Where do we need to make improvement? Where are we doing very well that we can actually simplify?”
Also speaking, Country Manager for partnership and collaboration under the DICS 2.0 project, which is implemented by the Society for Family Health in Nigeria, Jennifer Adebambo said the Society for Family Health (SFH) has been implementing the DISC project in Oyo State, Nigeria, since 2020, with the goal of empowering women and citizens to take charge of their health. The project has entered its second phase (2.0), which aims to saturate all Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state with trained healthcare providers and improved data reporting systems.
The project focuses on delivering innovations in self-care, particularly through the DMPA-SC (Depot Medroxyprogesterone Acetate – Subcutaneous) project, which enables women to self-inject contraceptives. This approach has been shown to be effective in increasing access to family planning services and empowering women to take control of their reproductive health.
According to the SFH representative, the project has achieved significant results, including training over 1,000 healthcare providers and improving data reporting systems, adding that in the first quarter of 2025, 84 percent of women who opted for DMPA-SC as their family planning method were able to self-inject, demonstrating the project’s success in promoting self-care and increasing access to family planning services.
In her goodwill message, the Commissioner for Information, Prince Dotun Oyelade who was represented by the Director of Public Enlightenment and Mass Mobilisation, Mrs Aboyede Ojo commended the SFH for the interest in keying into the vision of the Governor Seyi Makinde led government in the state.
He assured the organisation of the readiness of the government through the Ministry to support and partner in other future endeavours for a mutually beneficial relationship.
