Over 100 Men and women in Kekere Ekun community, Surulere, Lagos, have received different family planning commodities during the health outreach led by The Challenge Initiative (TCI).
The health outreach was organized by TCI to commemorate the 2024 World Contraceptive Day and to increase awareness of reproductive health solutions among locals, offering on-the-spot access to family planning services.
Services provided during the outreach include injectables, IUDs, condoms, and implants. Health practitioners also educated the beneficiaries on the side effects of each commodity.
One of the Health Education Officers in the facility, Mrs Elizabeth Oniwinde, expressed satisfaction with the campaign’s outcome and how sensitization has led to increased community participation.
“We have been able to sensitize the community ahead of the outreach and they have shown interest to uptake family planning services. The sensitization also helped people to have an indepth understanding of the importance of family planning,” she added.
To address perceived stigmatization, the team provided “Go cards” for timid individuals to access services in the facility. “Once we get back to the facility, we know they are from the campaign but didn’t access the service probably due to timidity,” Oniwinde explained.
Mr. Kayode Azeez, Health Educator Officer, identified religious beliefs and societal factors as major challenges. “Some people do not want to access these services publicly and we understand that. It is not thier fault, religion and the society paints it wrongly but we are here to make them informed that this choice will help their health and the society and economy extensively.
Men also participated in the outreach, collecting condoms and committing to educating their spouses to access contraceptives.
TCI’s partnership with the health facility has helped to increase awareness of family planning as there are community representatives who go out regularly to sensitize the public on family planning.