The Lagos State Ministry of Health with support from The Challenge Initiative (TCI) recently trained 70 health care providers on quality Long Acting Reversible Contraceptives (LARC) and adolescent and youth-friendly services provision in the various local government areas where TCI operates.
The training which had in the first week 50 participants Family Planning Service Providers from government hospitals across Lagos State, included 20 more providers from the private sector to extend the LARC method and youth-friendly services to the various communities.
Dr. Victoria Omoera, the Reproductive Health Coordinator, Lagos State Ministry of Health in her opening remark, reiterated the Lagos State government’s commitment to continue to ensure the provision of quality services in every service delivery point in Lagos state.
Omoera emphasized that Capacity building is one of the high-impact interventions that the Government is deploying to ensure that anyone who goes to a facility for family planning services gets quality attention.
Dr. Omotunde Odanye, TCI’s Technical Support Lead for Private Sector Engagement told MAPHI reporter that “it was imperative to extend the capacity building to the private sector due to the services rendered to a large population in the state and also to ensure that they are equipped to provide quality services.
“So this week the training is for participants from twenty private health facilities and we hope that after the training, they will go on to provide quality family planning services to the people in their local government areas here in Lagos state”.
Omotunde when asked about the expected outcome from the training, said that “TCI expects that after this training, the providers will go on to their facilities to also step-down the training to more providers in their hospitals.
“Such that if there is a movement of providers around the state, it is more likely that anytime you go to a facility to obtain family planning services, you are likely to encounter a trained provider. Which will contribute to a larger pull of trained family providers in the state.
“More so as they step down the training to other staff in their facility we understand that both the public sector and the private sector will also be providing optimal services because the government hospitals cannot do it alone. The large private sector in Lagos state is very critical” she added.
Adediran Adeowo, Managing Director, Ifeoluwa Family Healthcare Centre, Ajegunle-Apapa, a participant in the training sees the collaboration as laudable because he believes that a higher percentage of Nigerians prefer to seek medical care from the private sector rather than government hospitals.
Adediran said “the program is a good idea which means there is recognition for the existence of family planning service providers from the private sector and we are contributing a lot in Lagos state.
“The training has created an avenue to refresh our memories, learn new and best practices as far as family planning services are concerned and it will be good if it can come up periodically due to the dynamic nature of medicine”.
Adediran shared that “we have gained a lot by renewing our knowledge, especially about the LARC method. So I will apply the new knowledge gained on AYSRH in my interaction with adolescents and youths who come into the facilities by being more friendly and unbiased in judgment and ensuring that they are satisfactorily attended to.”