Access to FP: Adolescent, youth face wide range of barriers - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

The challenges faced by adolescents and youth in accessing family planning in Nigeria have been underscored as very wide and key demoralizing factor, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The Programme Officer, Reproductive Health Family Planning at Pathfinder International Nigeria office, Izundu Kosi, gave this insight during a presentation made at a 3-day capacity building workshop on investigative journalism organized by Pathfinder International Nigeria for Media and Advocacy Working Group (MAWG) on Family Planning in Lagos recently.

Dwelling on “Adolescent and Youth access to Family Planning” Izundu noted that adolescents and youth face a wide range of barriers in accessing high-quality Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services.

Some of these, she outlined to include what she described as structural barriers, socio-cultural barriers, and individual barriers to name a few.



She explained to NaijaAgroNet that ‘Structural barriers’ comprised such as laws and policies requiring parental or partner consent, distance from facilities, costs of services and/or transportation.

“… Long wait times for services, inconvenient hours, lack of necessary commodities at health facilities, and lack of privacy and confidentiality,” she decried.



Izundu also said that ‘Sociocultural barriers” involve such as restrictive norms and stigma around adolescent and youth sexuality; inequitable or harmful gender norms; and discrimination and judgment of adolescents by communities, families, partners, and providers.

On the individual barriers, Izundu went on to said that these include such as young people’s limited or incorrect knowledge of SRH.

This she said, may include myths and misconceptions around contraception; limited self-efficacy and individual agency; limited ability to navigate internalized social and gender norms; and limited information about what SRH services are available and where to seek services.

Although she recognized some of the government interventions to ensure the SRH of adolescents and youth in Nigeria to include the development of various policies nad laws to advance the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents and youth people.

She listed some of the examples of such policies to include the “National Reproductive Health Policy and Strategy, National Adolescent Health Policy, National Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy, Family Life Health Education among others.”

Further, she pointed out that with the support of partners and other donor agencies, the government has put in place youth friendly health care centers and trained health care providers to provide youth friendly services

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Odusote urges National Park to improve IGR - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Environment, Mrs. Ibukun Odusote, has pledged to create an enabling environment that would help boost the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the National Park Service, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Speaking weekend while on a working-visit to the head office of the National Park Service in Abuja, Mrs. Odusote said this would pave the way as part of Federal Government’s robust measures at diversifying the nation's economy.

The National Park Service is an agency under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Environment.

The PermSec highlighted the need for government to look inward and seek ways to harness alternative sources of revenue generation outside oil to fund its programmes and policies.

“With the right environment, the agency has a huge opportunity to assist the government to boost its IGR, especially now that oil prices have dropped significantly and there are some indications that it may drop further,” she said.

She also said that with an enabling environment, the National Park can help boost recreational activities, tourism, create jobs and massive wealth.

“Given the huge socio-economic benefits of National Parks worldwide, the Environment Ministry would do everything within its reach to collaborate with critical stakeholders to translocate animals that have either gone extinct or at the verge of extinction. This will help to attract tourism. As one of the most viable ministries in terms of revenue generation, we remain committed to helping the Federal Government boost its revenue source,” she said.

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Pix: Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Environment, Mrs Ibukun Odusote.

Conflict: Lack of safe water likely to kill more children than violence - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

Children under the age of 15 living in countries affected by protracted conflict are, on average, almost three times more likely to die from diarrhoeal diseases caused by a lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene than by direct violence, UNICEF said in a new report today.

Water Under Fire looks at mortality rates in 16 countries going through prolonged conflicts and finds that, in most of them, children under the age of five are more than 20 times more likely to die from diarrheal-related deaths linked to lack of access to safe water and sanitation than direct violence.

“The odds are already stacked against children living through prolonged conflicts – with many unable to reach a safe water source,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. “The reality is that there are more children who die from lack of access to safe water than by bullets."

“In Nigeria, conflict has created huge challenges for people living in the north-east of the country, where violence has affected their ability to access water and sanitation, leading to diseases such as cholera,” said Mohamed Fall, UNICEF Nigeria Representative.

“More than 3.6 million people are in need of water, sanitation and hygiene services – 1.1 million of these are internally displaced (IDPs), having fled their homes due to violence and conflict. Many of them are out-of-reach, in remote areas still impacted by conflict. About 800,000 people are in hard-to-reach areas and 79 percent of these are children and women,” said Mohamed Fall..

In north-east Nigeria, 5,365 people were affected by cholera, with 61 dying in 2017, while 12,643 people were affected and 175 died of cholera in 2018.

UNICEF is working to scale-up lifesaving responses, especially in IDP camps, to ensure quality and sustainability of WASH services and facilities, minimize the risk of WASH-related diseases, and to provide preventive measures against cholera and other water-borne diseases.

Without safe and effective water, sanitation and hygiene services, children are at risk of malnutrition and preventable diseases including diarrhoea, typhoid, cholera and polio. Girls are particularly affected: They are vulnerable to sexual violence as they collect water or venture out to use latrines. They deal with affronts to their dignity as they bathe and manage menstrual hygiene. And they miss classes during menstruation if their schools have no suitable water and sanitation facilities.

These threats are exacerbated during conflict when deliberate and indiscriminate attacks destroy infrastructure, injure personnel and cut off the power that keeps water, sanitation and hygiene systems running. Armed conflict also limits access to essential repair equipment and consumables such as fuel or chlorine – which can be depleted, rationed, diverted or blocked from delivery. Far too often, essential services are deliberately denied.

“Deliberate attacks on water and sanitation are attacks on vulnerable children,” said Fore. “Water is a basic right. It is a necessity for life.”

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Fayemi commiserates with rainstorm victims - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

…..Promises government support

The Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi has commiserated with victims of Tuesday’s rainstorm which damaged some buildings in Ado-Ekiti and some parts of the state and pledged the support of the state government towards mitigating their losses, reports NaijaAgroNet.

He also directed the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to liaise with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to come up with the detailed record of affected areas and individuals for necessary support.

The Governor also appealed to the PHCN and BEDC to move round the affected areas and tidy up damaged electricity poles and cables so that power supply can be restored to the areas.

While government would do her beats in ensuring that support gets to the affected individuals and families, government is also appealing to well- meaning members of the public and philanthropists to come to the aid of the victims of the rainstorm in whatever way possible.

Government is of the view that effects of rainstorms or other natural disaster can be mitigated if individuals would take some precautionary measures. These measures include carrying out routine checks on individual buildings and structures; clearing of drainages and refraining from indiscriminate dumping refuse on rivers, roads, drainages and median.

The Governor has also directed that those who were affected by the rainstorm but who were yet to be visited by officials of the Ministry of Environment or SEMA should take photographs of their damaged buildings with other proofs and report at the office of the Agency for proper documentation.

Governor Fayemi says necessary measures would be put in place to ensure that the coming raining season does not bring havoc.

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Gossipmill fear tunes Lagos youth off family planning - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

Lagos-based youths have expressed dismay over the attitude of some health care service providers, saying that the fear of becoming gossip mill tune them off family planning, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The youths, largely females, who speak with NaijaAgroNet under anonymity decried the attitude of some health care service providers, especially when they approach family planning centres for services or even to inquire.

They confirmed to NaijaAgroNet that in Lagos, for instance, they would not access family planning service in their immediate domain to avoid stigmatization afterwards.

Also, they noted that although Lagos State has some Hello Lagos, which is the life-planning centres for the youth, the bias evident at those centres discourages them.

The youth who spoke on the sideline of the 3-day capacity building workshop on investigative journalism organized by Pathfinder International Nigeria, told NaijaAgroNet they came from Ikotu, Alimosho and Agege.

They complained of being made to stand while interrogated during her visit, instead of being attended to or counselled based on their needs in the first instance.

According to one of them, 25-year old Halima and graduate of Business Admin, the service provider’s first question was on her age bracket and on learning she had three boy-friends at 25, the body language changed outside religious concerns and countenance, stressing that she was not even given an opportunity of seeing a condom or counselled properly on other options, hence she has to leave.

She alleged that her welcome was not warm as anticipated, wondering if it should have been better to have unplanned pregnant to receive required attention at family planning units of Public Healthcare Centre (PHC) despite being sexually active.

Another female youth, Helen, 22, who acknowledged being sexually active lamented that the health service provider, she accosted at the Hello Lagos Life planning centre, was visibly furious on noticing she is a Catholic, did not given her required attention and courtesy of offering her a seat or any attempt to make her to relax before supposed grilling.

Helen said that in the course of their tensed-discussion, she understood that both female and male condoms were available at the facility, but she was not given the female condom which she had demanded but a male condom was offered to her.

As said by her, she decided to take away the male condom roll-of-four because half-bread is better than none, stressing that she was concerned that at her back, she became subject of gossip.

For 20-year Ayoshe, who is a makeup artist, the PHC centre she visited was near her community and because of their prying foot-dragging responses to her questions as a teenager wanting to access family planning services, she had to switch role from personal inquiry to on errand for her mother.

She was not shown any options of family planning but told that for her to access any available service, must be during ovulation, which family planning experts, Mrs. Abiola Adekoya disagreed with, even though some pregnant women still ovulate whilst pregnant.

Adekoya, a retired nurse told NaijaAgroNet that these service providers in these cases were bad examples and opposite of what they should be, especially for these youths by counselling them and sharing available options with them and possibly allow them to make informed decision.

Mrs. Adekoya insisted that those service providers need to be trained in the right contemporary path to help the teeming youth who may come across them.

She posited that with the narratives aforementioned, these youngsters may not likely return to the centres again eventually even when they may be ready for family planning, describing it as a missed opportunities to win a soul for family planning and better equip the youth.

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pic: country director, FP Dr Farouk Jeba

Jega says knowledgeable family planning service providers will make difference - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

The country director of the Pathfinder International Nigeria, Dr. Farouk Jega, has said that having a knowledgeable family planning service providers would make a lot of difference in the nation’s health care sector, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Chatting with NaijaAgroNet in Lagos at the ongoing 3-day capacity building workshop on investigative journalism organized by Pathfinder International Nigeria, Dr. Jega said well-informed service providers will bring about enormous change towards building trust in the adoption of family planning uptakes in the country.

“Having service providers who know their jobs will make a lot of difference,” he asserted.

NaijaAgroNet gathered there are several types of health services providers which range from medical doctors, obstetricians cum gynecologists, and physician assistants, to nurse practitioners, licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, and advanced practice nurses, to pharmacists, and specialists.

Also, Dr. Jega said that every woman, especially in developing economies like Nigeria deserves quality family planning information so as to make informed decision.

“Every woman deserves quality information on family planning,” he declared.

As said by him, every woman no matter the age has the right to know and assess quality family planning information.

Pathfinder International Nigeria, he told NaijaAgroNet believe so in provision of quality family planning information for families, and mostly women, insisting that there should be no coercion on the part of women as far as issues on family planning is concerned.

He advised women to have children at the appropriate time as it has some health implications both for them and child, lamenting “if born at the age nearing menopause.”

NaijaAgroNet gathered that menopause equally known as the climacteric, is the time in most women's lives when menstrual periods stop permanently, and they are no longer able to bear children.

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Pix: Dr Farouk Jega, CD, Pathfinder International Nigeria

South-South tops in HIV prevalence - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet 

The 2018 Nigeria HIV/AIDS Indicator and Impact Survey (NAIIS) has revealed that the South-South zone has the highest HIV prevalence in the country with North West with the lowest, reports NaijaAgroNet .

NAIIS showcased this indicating the South-South zone has the highest HIV prevalence with 3.1 per cent and North West has the lowest 0.6 per cent. 

The latest NAIIS is a cross-sectional survey that will assess the prevalence of key human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-related health indicators. This survey is a two-stage cluster survey of 88,775 randomly-selected households in Nigeria, sampled from among 3,551 nationally-representative sample clusters.

According to NAIISResult made available to NaijaAgroNet , showed that HIV prevalence in Nigeria in 1.4 per cent; there are 1.9 million people living with HIV in Nigeria. HIV prevalence is 1.9 per cent among females and 0.9 per cent among males.

The HIV prevalence in Nigerian prisons, NaijaAgroNet gathered was twice higher than in general population.

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Okolo urges Nigerian journalists to use data for family planning - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet: 
 The chief executive officer of Journalism.com, Mr. Anselm Okolo has urged Nigerian journalists to be rationale in the use of data in building their news stories and features on family planning, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Speaking in Lagos at a three-day capacity building workshop on investigative journalism organized by Pathfinder International Nigeria, he said that data has become an indispensable part to achieving change in communication and behavior.

He also said that it would assist journalists investigating family planning issues to have a better and accurate planning outcome.

According to him, investigative journalism provides truth about people from government and information on what other entities such as Pathfinder among stakeholders are doing to fulfil their mandates.

This, he said, helps for accurate decision making for development, stressing that it serves as good feedback mechanism for programme review whilst it drives and refines decision making.

“Readers and listeners want to see news stories that evidence based,” he declared.

Earlier, welcoming participants to the workshop, the Communications Manager, Pathfinder International Nigeria, Mrs Somto Atuagha, told NaijaAgroNet that the workshop aims at strengthening the capacity of the Media Advocacy Working Group (MAWG) to complement family planning advocacy efforts in Lagos State towards the attainment of the FP2020 goals.

Atuagha who was accompanied by Programme Coordinator, Advocacy and Policy at Pathfinder, Ms Kosisochukwu Izundu, also named two-key objectives of the workshop include strengthening of capacity of participants on investigative journalism to develop more impactful family planning related media content for broadcast and publication.

In addition, she said it would orientate participants about youth access to family planning in Lagos State and would be hands-on driven.

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FAO calls for sustainability in date palm production - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

Investing in innovation and research is key to ensuring the sustainability of date palm production, a valuable food and livelihood resource for millions of people in the Near East and North Africa FAO Director-General, José Graziano da Silva, reports NaijaAgroNet,

“The impacts of climate change are making water increasingly scarce, provoking droughts that are more severe and prolonged, and also contributing to the outbreak and spread of pests and diseases, such as the Red Palm Weevil,” José Graziano da Silva said at the 11th Session of the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation (KIADPAI).

“We urgently need to build resilience and promote the adaptation of agricultural sectors through climate-smart practices that can also preserve natural resources and biodiversity,” he stressed, noting the importance of the date palm, which is deeply rooted in the economies, cultures and diets of the people of the Near East and North Africa region.

He referred to the diverse range of tools and knowledge that science and innovation have made available to produce “more and better with less resources”.

These include, for example, hydroponic systems that produce high-quality food with no soil and only 10 percent of the water normally used in traditional systems, and the use of drones to help track pests and diseases, as well as the use of nanotechnology for water desalinization.

“The challenge is to seize all the opportunities to apply and develop innovative solutions,” Graziano da Silva said. “For that, we need to put in place innovative policies, investments and partnerships bringing together the public and private sectors, and look to pursuing long-term commitment.”

Last November, FAO organized the first International Symposium on Agricultural Innovation for Family Farmers, where participants recognized the importance of family farmers for agricultural innovation.

Graziano da Silva emphasized the need to strengthen the capacity of farmers to innovate and acknowledged the invaluable role the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation is playing in the promotion of innovative agricultural practices, especially in water scarce regions.

From “feeding” to “nourishing” people with healthy and nutritious food

The FAO Director-General highlighted the need to foster innovation “across the whole food system,” and not just in the agricultural sectors. “We need to reposition our food systems away from simply ‘feeding’ to ‘nourishing’ people with healthy and nutritious food,” he said. “This change is fundamental to tackle not only hunger but also all forms of malnutrition, particularly obesity.”

Globally, more than 2 billion people are overweight, including 670 million who are obese (accounting for about 13 percent of the world’s adult population).

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the proportion of obese adults in the Near East and North of Africa is of around 30 percent, reaching almost 40 percent in specific countries.

“The growing rate of obesity is happening at a huge socio-economic cost,” Graziano da Silva stressed. “Obesity is a risk factor for many non-communicable diseases such as stroke, diabetes and some types of cancer,” he added.

Estimates indicate that the global economic impact of obesity is about$2 trillion per year (2.8 percent of the global GDP). “This is equivalent to the global impacts of smoking or armed conflicts globally,” he warned.

The main reason behind the rise of obesity, he noted, is that current food systems have increased the availability and accessibility of highly processed food that is very caloric and energy-dense, high in fat, sugar and salt.

“This is particularly worrisome when countries have an excessive dependency on food imports, as is the case in the Near East and North Africa region,” Graziano da Silva said. He called for food trade regulations that address the imports of unhealthy food, and contribute to avoiding what he defined as the “globalization of obesity”.

The FAO Director-General said the upcoming Expo 2020 in Dubai, will provide a great opportunity for the international community to discuss innovative ideas and partnerships to tackle future challenges, including food insecurity and malnutrition.

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CAR, IFAD to promote smallholder farmers’ resilience to climate change - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

Nearly 30,000 vulnerable households will be better equipped to deal with the fragility created by past conflict and the impacts of climate change thanks to a US$29 million project announced today that aims to improve food and nutrition security in four sub-prefectures of the Central African Republic, reports NaijaAgroNet.

With support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a financing agreement for the Project to Revitalize Crop and Livestock Production in the Savannah (PREPAS) was signed earlier by Gilbert F. Houngbo, President of IFAD, and Félix Moloua, Minister of Planning, Economy and Cooperation of the Central African Republic.

Financing for the project includes a grant from IFAD ($12.4 million), as well as funding from the Government of Central African Republic ($0.9 million) and the beneficiaries themselves ($3 million). A financing gap of $12.6 million will be covered by future IFAD resource allocation cycles for Central African Republic.

In the Central African Republic, the livelihoods of 74 per cent of the population are dependent on the agropastoral sector, which also accounts for 52 per cent of the GDP. The humanitarian and security crisis between 2013-2015 and continued conflicts have had a devastating effect on the economy, impacting food security and increasing the country's fragility today. As a result, poverty affects about 67 per cent of the entire population.

The main causes of poverty include the poor performance of the agropastoral sector, the impact of the conflicts on the economy, lack of roads, infrastructure and public services in rural areas, vulnerability to climate change, floods and droughts, as well as scarce economic opportunities, especially for the young people.

PREPAS will target agricultural producers in the sub-prefectures of Baoro, Bossemptélé, Bouar and Yaloké, with possible expansion to Bozoum after the project's mid-term review. At least 50 per cent of the participants will be women, 30 per cent young people and 10 per cent heads of the most vulnerable households.

The project aims to strengthen the production, processing and marketing of maize, cassava, groundnut, red beans, poultry, goats, sheep and pigs. It will promote sustainable practices that help famers adapt to climate change conditions, particularly to droughts and floods. Household members will also be trained in good dietary practices, nutrition and hygiene. Increasing the availability of highly nutritious foods will be among project goals. In an attempt to reduce tensions and promote long-term sustainability, the project will also focus on encouraging dialogue between farmers growing crops and livestock producers. 

In addition, the project will establish 800 agricultural, agropastoral and market gardening groups while developing market gardens equipped with solar irrigation devices. Furthermore, 12 product warehouses and eight input storehouses will be constructed, and 450 young people will receive training in processing, marketing or services within the value chains of selected crops and livestock.

Since 1979, IFAD has financed eight rural development programmes and projects in Central African Republic at a total cost of $160.9 million, with an IFAD investment of $71.6 million. These projects and programmes have directly benefited 123,350 rural households.

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