The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) says it has trained personnel in 44 private hospitals in Nasarawa state in North central Nigeria, on improved quality family planning methods.
 
Mrs Ayodele Iroko, the Chief of Party, Strengthening Health Organisation through Private Sector (SHOPS), Nigeria, disclosed this in Lafia the state capital.
 
He said USAID-SHOPS Project is aimed at building the capacity of the private health sector toward improving the quality of family planning services, and also increase access to such services.
 
According to her, the USAID-funded five year-project (2011-2016) was executed in six states including: Abia, Benue, Edo, Kaduna, Lagos and Nasrawa.
 
Iroko said that the beneficiaries were trained in different family planning methods and maternal and child health-related issues.
 
“We built their capacity on what we call method mix which strengthens a particular private health provider to be able to provide every method of family planning services,” she said.
 
She said that the training was extensive as it exposed them to all methods of family planning, as well as business management, to ensure effective service delivery.. “We are sure that method mix is available in all the 44 private facilities trained in Nasarawa. Any client who goes in there for any method of family planning will not be turned away, but access quality method of choice,” she said.
 
The chief of party said that 115 community pharmacists were also trained on family wellness to effectively counsel clients to enable them to make informed choices in choosing family planning methods.
 
In her remarks, Nancy Lowenthal, Office Director, Health Population and Nutrition, USAID Nigeria, said that the U.S. Government has committed 15.5 million dollars to the SHOPS project.
 
Lowenthal said that the project was a demonstration of the U.S. Government’s core principle of working in partnership with the Nigerian Government to reach both the public and private sector with quality healthcare services.
 
She said that USAID, through the project, had laid the foundation for the government of Nigeria, as well as the private sector, to build on in order to provide quality reproductive health services to the people.
 
“This is the cornerstone of improved primary healthcare and improving the outcome of both mother and children in Nasarawa and the country in general,” she said.
 
Read more at http://von.gov.ng/usaid-trains-health-workers-family-planning-methods/