The Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI) has advised government at all levels to promote family planning in COVID-19 sensitisation campaigns in order to check unwanted pregnancies after the pandemic.

Mrs Stella Akinso and Dr Adeola Duduyemi, the state team leaders of NURHI for Oyo and Lagos States respectively, made the submission in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan.

The duo also said there was the need to make more family planning commodities available as there was a shortfall due to closure of manufacturing companies.

Akinso said unwanted pregnancies had currently become a major source of concern for those in reproductive health.

She, however, commended the government’s efforts in containing the spread of the virus, urging that attention should also focus on other areas of concern due to the lockdown.

“When people are locked down, they become idle and the next thing to do is to have sexual intercourse; this is so even among young people”.

“We have heard how people are being molested and women have actually complained seriously about the frequency of sexual intercourse. The aftermath of COVID-19 will obviously lead to a lot of unplanned pregnancies,” she said.

Akinso said this called for integration of family planning messages into COVID-19 sensitisation campaigns so that people could begin to protect themselves.

She also noted that the lockdown, which had restricted movements in some parts of the country, had hindered the operation of family planning mobilisers.

“We are working with family planning coordinators in the various local government areas of Oyo State. We are actively talking with the Executive Director of the Primary Healthcare Board at the state level to help in mainstreaming the information on family planning into COVID-19″.

“We are happy the Medical Women Association of Nigeria has designed posters and information that talk about family planning and COVID-19 to educate people”.

“We are working with them and in a couple of days, we will begin to strategise and see how we will get these information to people,” she said.

Duduyemi, on her part , said more women were accessing family planning as attested to by providers because of the fear of pregnancy with the stay-at-home order.

She, however, said some other people were not even considering family planning.

“For instance, we know that couples are at home, husbands and wives have more time to spend together and have sex regularly now as well as young people too.

“There has been reduction in the supply chain of contraceptives, even as at now we have run out of stock for some commodities.

“For instance in Lagos State, we do mass distribution but since the month of March, we have not been able to do so due to the lockdown and even now the commodities we want to distribute are not sufficient,” she said.

Duduyemi said the scarcity may be due to the fact that some manufacturers of the commodities had diverted into production of other essential needs for tackling COVID-19.

“I was in touch with a government official in Lagos and I was asking how we can include family planning messages in the ongoing publicity on COVID-19″.

“These include messages such as ‘Stay home, Stay safe, Avoid Unwanted Pregnancies and that  Family Planning Services are available in the nearest Primary Healthcare Centers.

” This is imperative so that at the end of the day, we will not have a more difficult situation at hand.

“For instance, we won’t have more unwanted pregnancies or unsafe abortions that can lead to maternal mortality and morbidity when the pandemic is over,” she said.

Duduyemi also called on the government to help ensure that commodities get to facilities so that people who need family planning services would not be turned back at the Primary Healthcare Centers. (NAN)