The Challenge Initiative (TCI), has declared Sokoto State the top performer among 10 states in meeting 75% Family Planning targets for the 2023/2024 program.
According to Dr Bello Abubakar Kilgori, Sokoto State Manager of the TCI Project, the state achieved an impressive 75% of its 2024 project goals, securing its position among the top 10 states participating in TCI’s national program.
Kilgor sought the collaboration of journalists to amplify positive changes in reproductive health and family planning activities in the state.
He stated this during the Year Three Review Meeting, Media Roundtable, and Planning Engagement in Sokoto.
The meeting aimed to showcase achievements, review challenges, share experiences, and identify areas for improvement.
Kilgori emphasized the vital role journalists have played in raising public awareness, conducting field assessments of family planning services, and highlighting constraints such as manpower shortages and delivery challenges.
Kilgori urged journalists to sustain their efforts and advised government officials to provide them with more opportunities to access information and address the challenges identified.
He led discussions on key areas, offering solutions to critical issues that require attention, particularly in family planning.
The Director of Advocacy in the Sokoto State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (SSPHDA), Dahiru Qamaru, has assured that the state government has made adequate arrangements to enhance family planning services.
According to Qamaru, more consumables and other essential items will be provided, and health workers will be recruited and retrained to manage family planning services.
Qamaru noted that health facilities in Sokoto have seen a significant increase in the accessibility of family planning services, thanks to community sensitization efforts by The Challenge Initiative (TCI), media organizations, and other stakeholders in the state.
He commended TCI, and media personnel for their commitment to family planning in the state and assured them of more government support to achieve their objectives.
“The technical assistance, guidance, and resources provided by TCI have been instrumental in helping us achieve our goals,” Kamaru said.
“The media has also played a critical role in promoting family planning awareness, education, and advocacy, which has helped increase visibility, reduce stigma, and promote informed decision-making.”
Musa Ubandawaki, the Media Coordinator of the Project, added that journalists have carried out field trips to primary healthcare centres and facilitated advocacy visits and door-to-door sensitization to communities.
Ubandawaki reassured that in the coming year, journalists will intensify their efforts on family planning awareness to encourage more acceptance and stakeholders’ commitment to the services.
He expressed optimism that his media team double efforts towards creating more awareness of family planning services and further draw the attention of the state government to ensure the timely release of funds for the purchase of needed tools and consumables to enhance childbirth spacing services across the state.