Stakeholders task FG on family planning funding cuts
Civil society organisations have enjoined government at all levels to harness local opportunities to fund family planning following the USAID-90 days funding freeze and other funding cuts. They made the call yesterday in Abuja during a panel discussion organised by the development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC), at the 2025 annual conference of the Population […]
Civil society organisations have enjoined government at all levels to harness local opportunities to fund family planning following the USAID-90 days funding freeze and other funding cuts.
They made the call yesterday in Abuja during a panel discussion organised by the development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC), at the 2025 annual conference of the Population Association of Nigeria.
Dr Stanley Ilechukwu, Director South Saharan Social Development Organization (SSDO) said that many family planning interventions have suffered as a result of the USAID aid pause and that some of them may not resume even after the 90 days.
He said governments at all levels must take up responsibility, adding that local government autonomy offers funding opportunities. He said CSOs could advocate to local governments for investments in the health and other sectors.
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Dr Ejike Oji , Chairman of the Management Committee of the Association for the Advancement of Family Planning (AAFP) said there was need for more advocacy to faith, traditional leaders, increased male involvement, scale up of advocacy messaging , and a non biased, and non- directional family planning counseling model.
Director, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria Foundation (PSNF} Pharm. Ijeoma Nwankwo said the implications of the family planning funding cuts is that free family planning services accessed at public health facilities will become minimal or not even available.
She said this will further make many more Nigerians, to be leaning towards the private sectors with heavier out of pocket expenditure.
She said the country has to think outside the box by leveraging technology to close the gaps like using drones, and digital access to family planning services.
Chief Executive Officer of Afrihealth Optonet Association (AHOA), Dr Uzodinma Adirieje lamented that since the Abuja declaration of 2001 where Nigerian and other African governments committed to 15% allocation of the total budget to the health sector , no administration since then has been able to do so.
He said there was also zero allocation for family planning for this year’s proposed budget adding that every ministry and agency should look at family planning as a development issue and prioritise its financing.
Dr. Fatima Zara Mairami of the Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of Nigeria (SOGON) said a huge percentage of funding for family planning was from donors. She added that the donor funding stoppage has a lot of implications for service delivery in the country.