Mrs. Falmata Muhammad, the Head of Dikumari Primary Healthcare Facility in Yobe, has expressed satisfaction with the increasing number of women accessing child spacing services at the facility.
She told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Damaturu on Wednesday that at least 70 women visit the facility each month to utilise various family planning methods across 13 catchment areas and settlements.
She attributed the rise in service uptake to improved sensitisation, including health talks during Ante Natal Care (ANC) visits and child immunisation sessions.
Muhammad highlighted the crucial role of Yobe Government, Marie Stopes and Save the Children in supporting the programme.
She said the organisations provided essential commodities, including oral contraceptive pills, injectables, implants and intrauterine devices (IUCDs), among others, to women.
She urged the public, particularly husbands, to encourage their wives to access child spacing services, stressing that “this will not only benefit the women’s health but also contribute to a healthier and more stable families.”
Mrs Harris Usman, a Community Health Extension Worker at Ngenzelma Primary Healthcare Service Centre, also expressed appreciation for the high level of compliance and acceptance of child spacing services among women at the facility.
She attributed the success to ongoing sensitisation being conducted at the facility.
Malam Kyallu Gana, a mother of six said she noticed a significant improvement in her health and well-being after embracing child spacing.
She said, “Since adopting child spacing, I feel much more energetic and my health has really stabilised.”
Hajiya Hafsat Yakubu, another client at Dikumari Primary Healthcare, admitted to initially having reservations about child spacing.
She, however, said her experience had been so positive that she now actively encouraged other women to embrace it.
Hajiya Mairo Hassan, the State Coordinator for Reproductive Health at the Yobe State Primary Healthcare Management Board, explained the benefits of child spacing.
She said mothers who space their pregnancies allow their bodies more time to recover from the physical demands of childbirth and breastfeeding.
She added that mothers who space their pregnancies allow their bodies more time to replenish essential nutrients like iron and folate, which are
crucial for healthy development. (NAN)
