Applause for Lagos: As more women embrace family planning

NaijaAgroNet:

It was an applause time for the centre of excellence, Lagos as more women have embraced the state family planning programmes, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Investigations by NaijaAgroNet, showed that some Lagos women gave this indication in chat at the weekend, highlighting the fact that they have overcome the myths, challenges and misconceptions surrounding family planning uptake and the likely side effects.

This follows recent reports that the uptake of family planning method in Lagos State has been on the rise, dispelling the myth and misconception on family planning thereof.

Amongst the most common of these myths are perceptions that family planning causes excessive bleeding and infertility. However, a soaring number of women have overcome these challenges.

A few of them who shared their experiences with NaijaAgroNet, explained how they overcame the myths, challenges and misconceptions surrounding family planning uptake and the side effects.

One of the women, Mrs Fatiyasat Abdul, (real name withheld) a 34 year old trader and a mother of three had little knowledge of Family planning when she got married over a decade ago.

Abdul said she belonged to the group of Nigerian women that believe it is God that gives children and provides for their upkeep, hence no faith in family planning.

This perception, however, changed when Fatimah Abdul was pregnant with her second child five years after marriage, when a health provider educated her about family planning and its benefits.

Mrs Abdul narrated her experience in Lagos, pointing out how her initial excitement about the advantages of family planning was dampened by friends who discouraged her about it, claiming that family planning will make her bleed, become infertile and then develop fibroids.

“My friends in the market place discouraged me, saying family planning will make me not to have children again, and blood will be gushing out of my body without stopping. That actually discouraged me.”

However, Abdul remarked that if not for her husband who encouraged her to go back to the hospital after she had her second child, she probably would not have continued the family planning.

“I was always afraid to do it because of what my friends told me. That was why I had to stop after six months of using the injectable. I was able to space my children because my husband used the withdrawal method. But when I finally gave birth to my last child, I went to the family planning unit of Lagos Island Maternity Hospital. They educated me on the benefits of family planning along with the side effects which can be managed.

“It was at that point I realized that what my friends at the market place were saying was all lies and I also realized that my husband struggles to pay the school fees of our children and he could be helped if we embrace family planning,” she said.

And for Betty Samson, a 42-year old beautician and a mother of two said she heard about family planning over the radio and was able to do injectable, when she travelled to South Africa, after her first child.

Unfortunately, she experienced some complications as she was bleeding continuously after her menstruation. When she went back to the clinic to report her experience, the provider asked her to continue.

When the bleeding continued, she stopped the use. After 10 years, she has conquered her fears and decided to go back to using a family planning method but this time, an implant.

Meanwhile, a survey conducted by the Performance Monitoring and Accountability (PMA2020) identified that Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) in the state has increased drastically in recent time.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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