Family planning not discouraging child bearing, but…. ~ NUHRI

By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan.
Oyo State team leader of the Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative(NURHI), Mrs Stella Akinso on Thursday reinstated that family planning was “not to discourage child bearing” but to sensitize women about family planning methods.
The NURHI team leader stated this while speaking at the flag off of the visibility study on family planning in Lagelu local government area of Oyo State.
Mrs Akinso explained that by embracing family planning methods, nursing mothers and women in general will be in a better position to benefits from planning like child spacing methods, awareness and counseling.
She stressed further that the idea of family planning was “not to discourage child bearing” but to sensitize women about family planning methods where they will be free from unforeseen challenges.
Emphasizing that NURHI in its campaigns in Oyo State is targeting over 1 million in the next 3 years on family planning methods, counseling and awareness, she disclosed that its phase one were held in five local government areas of Ibadan metropolis with the phase two starting Wednesday at Akinyele local government area of the state, and expected to cover ten councils so as to make the campaigns to extend to fifteen local governments in Oyo State.
In her remark, the Family Planning Coordinator in Lagelu local government, Mrs. Oluwayemisi Esan said “family planning is not an avenue to discourage child bearing but a way to help women plan their life better, determine when to have children and not a way to discourage them from giving birth to the number of children they want to have”.
“Family planning is not to discourage you to have the number of children you want to have, it is a way to space between one child and the other so that, you can be fit, your mind to be at peace, and you will be able to do your work without stress.  It gives you the opportunity to take care of the number of children you want to have, you will be able to care for your family, there will be no psychological problem”.
Also, the Primary Health care Coordinator in the local government, Mrs Toyosi Salam maintained that women and their families would gain a lot from family planning if they can embrace it, saying,“there are a lot of benefits if women embrace family planning for the father, mother, children and the entire family”.
“For the mother, it allows the mother to take care of the family, it also reduces hypertension for the father, because if the amount of money is being utilised well by the father to take care of the number of children they want to have, that will give the father the
opportunity to spend less. It reduces economic hardship on the family. To the children, the children will have good quality of life, they will be able to go to the highest level of education they want to go if the little amount of money coming to the family is well managed” she said.
Mrs Salam added that family planning “will also promote physical and social life, if the family is able to plan well on the children, it will reduce the spending on the children, they will be able to eat good food and attend to the medical attention they are suppose to receive”.
“Family planning will also promote the life of the mother, if the mother is able to plan and space the gap between one children and the other, the blood loss will reduce for the mother, she will able to able to go about her daily activities. If she has plans and space the children, she will be able to take care of herself. If there is no space, she will not be able to have time for herself, for the children and that may lead to psychological problems”.