June 6, 2018

The Delta Government says it plans to create a specific budget line for reproductive health issues in 2019 to improve maternal health in the state.

The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Mordi Ononye, disclosed this on wednesday in Asaba at a programme on Contraceptive Technology Update (CTU) organised by Challenge Initiative (CTI) for policy makers.

Ononye said the state prioritised planning and budgeting for development purposes with consideration to the population of the people.

The commissioner said such planning would enable the state government to provide good governance to the citizenry.

He commended Challenge Initiative for its intervention through advocacy and technical assistance in promoting reproductive health issues in the state.

Earlier, Dr. Jude Winful-Orieke, the Executive Director, State Primary Health Care Development Agency, lauded the activities of CTI in Delta and urged it to sustain the tempo.

Windful-Orieke said the meeting on CTU would afford the state government an opportunity to create a road map for the implementation of family planning policies and strategies to achieve results.

In a presentation, the State Programme Coordinator of the TCI, Mrs. Nwanne Kalu, disclosed that the group was presently carrying out intervention programmes in 13 local government areas of the state.

Kalu said the efforts of the organisation were geared towards promoting family planning and maternal health awareness in the state.

She urged the state government to replicate same intervention activities in the remaining 12 council areas of the state.

The programme coordinator further disclosed that TCI provided technical assistance to the state Ministry of Health, through the Reproductive Health Unit to improve maternal health in the state.

According to her, the technical assistance through innovative family planning models helped to improve services and promote awareness as well as increase the number of family planning users in the state.