A Public Health Physician, Dr Omasan Edun, says Family Planning (FP) is one of the most cost-effective ways of attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Edun, who is also the Team Leader, State Field Office, Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative 2 (NURHI2), made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Lagos.
He spoke on the sidelines of a two-day FP training for journalists organised by NURHI 2 and Development Communications Network (DEVCOMS), which ended on Thursday.
“You can feel the impact of a well implemented FP programme in all the SDGs starting from SDG one to 17.
“There is a positive ripple effect of practicing FP at the home level on all of the SDGs at the societal, economic or national level almost like a cause and effect.
“If you do it right at home level, you will immediately see or reap the benefit at the societal level.
“If you are talking about zero hunger and if a home is able to provide effectively for their children and these children are a product of the society, definitely the society will have enough to cater for those children and their parents.
“For quality education, if you have the number of children you can properly take care of at home level it means the society can have an educational system that can absorb the children coming from those homes.
“By the time you begin to impact these little things that you do at home, they begin to impact the larger society and you will begin to see how important FP is to all of the SDGs,’’ he said.
On adolescent and child reproductive health, Edun urged parents to provide their children the information about their reproductive health.
According to him, children need to know that it is their right to know what it means to have a sexual relationship and its outcome.
He said that according to the 2006 Census, 55 per cent of the total country’s population was under 20 years old.
He said also that the 2013 Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) showed that the proportion of adolescents engaging in unprotected sex was 48 per cent males and 56 per cent females.
“At a tender age begin to introduce children to sexuality and reproductive health information.
“As they grow into their teens they need to begin to know the consequences of sexual relationships.
“As they grow older, then you begin to teach them the ways of preventing an unintended pregnancy and they are better informed.
“So, when they get wrong information outside, they can stand on their feet and say no.
“That way, you would have been building a more empowered woman or girl child,’’ he said.
Also, Mr Akin Jimoh, Programme Director, DEVCOMS, told NAN that FP was not all about sex, but an embodiment of our sexuality, planning our lives, and future that are linked to our development.
Jimoh said: “We all have a role to play on the progress we make in life in a way that at any point in time we can look into the future and identify the landmarks of our lives.
“A lot of orientation has to start from childhood; our children need information about their sexuality.
“When we talk about planning, it encompasses everything including planning our sexuality, lives; if we do not plan, we fail.
“The population is huge, social facilities are not enough in our school system, how many students can universities take and those who cannot go into such school where will they go to?
“Are we producing quality children, because if we do not plan our family, we are breeding half educated children.
“How do we address these things if we do not look at us as individuals first?’’
