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Nigeria

Articles by Nigeria

IPPF staff reaching out women in the market
24 September 2016

The story behind changing lives in Nigeria

SIZE defines many things about Nigeria. Being Africa’s most populous country ensures that plenty of the issues it faces are big. Nigeria’s population is around 188 million, and growing at more than 3% a year. Around a quarter of young women will be mothers or pregnant by the age of 19. One reason is a historically low use of contraception – at around 10%. One estimate suggests 35% of 15-24-year-olds who want access to contraception can’t get it – creating a huge unmet need for family planning. Nigeria’s Government has pledged to do something about that gap. It wants to increase the use of contraception to 36% by 2018 - its part in the global effort to give women around the world equal access to contraception. And a pilot programme run in Oyo State by the Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN), IPPF’s national member, has offered startling progress. ClusterPLUS is something of a hybrid. It was built on the foundation of PPFN’s previous work but added new thinking, including ideas developed by IPPF member associations in Kenya and Uganda, who helped PPFN adapt them for Nigeria. At its heart is a simple concept - partnership. The closer you can get to local communities, the better you work with national and local government and more you try to build local ownership, the better. The project used PPFN’s earlier development of “clusters” of clinics, pharmacies and other outlets, as a base. The original cluster project, introduced in 2009, was funded in part by the UK Department for International Development. One ClusterPLUS innovation was a tireless approach to community outreach. In villages without permanent centres, clinics would set-up for three days at a time in schools, churches, markets or mosques. But to make sure everyone who could benefit from them knew they were coming, workers armed with enthusiasm and megaphones would go around drumming-up interest first. These CHEWS (Community Health Extension Workers), lent from Nigeria’s Ministry, did far more than generate publicity though. They also lived in the communities and were trained to supply forms of contraception themselves. Women unable to get to a clinic, perhaps because of work, could visit a CHEW at home in the evening. Often they might bring a friend too. Greater accessibility boosted the numbers of women using contraception. Sherifat Adelke is a 32-year-old CHEW with the Joy Hospital in Ibadan. She thinks her Islamic faith helped one fellow Muslim to end his opposition to his wife using contraception. “He was furious at me and kept looking at my Hijab. Then he asked me if I was a Muslim at all. I told him the Quran didn’t instruct Muslims not to use Family Planning. After enough lecture, he agreed. That was a victory for me.” Male opposition wasn’t anything new. PPFN was already using “male motivators” to combat men’s ignorance about contraception. Owolabi Temidayo is one male motivator in Ibadan. “Some men believe that when their wives start using family planning they will become promiscuous. Others believe if their wives have implants they won’t be able to enjoy intercourse. The religious ones believe family planning is a sin. "I go places to educate men. I go to motor parks, markets, town hall meetings, speaking on the need for family planning. It goes a long way in clearing the misinformation out there.” One partnership which proved critical to ClusterPLUS was between PPFN and local government in Oyo State – it helped to galvanise local leadership and create buy-in from officials. And the support was concrete. As well as providing three clinical staff, local authorities supplied the contraceptives and places for training, for meetings and for clinics. ClusterPLUS also set out to emphasize the benefit of long acting forms of contraception such as implants and IUCDs. And their provision was integrated with other services. Someone coming to a clinic for breast or cervical cancer screening or a test for HIV or a sexual transmitted infection would find family planning available there and then. Reaching those in poorer communities was also a priority. 28-year-old Tawa Agungbaide was responsible for making sure that one group of 63 women who couldn’t afford to pay for contraception gain access to it nevertheless. “We realized finance was a huge challenge. In some instances, it wasn’t a question of paying for services, but also of not even having enough money to pay for their transport to a clinic.” The solution, says Tawa, was a voucher scheme, funding transport and contraception for women who simply couldn’t fund it themselves. It helped her group and many others. “With eligibility criteria, we were able to single women who really couldn’t afford family planning. The voucher scheme was able to solve that. I feel fulfilled helping these women.” And new technology has played a major part too. An app on tablets and smartphones allowed health workers to input what they’d handed out every day – quickly and in real time. The supply team could then make sure that a delivery point never ran out of supplies – avoiding the dreaded stock-out. How well has it worked? The figures are impressive. The project aimed to reach 20,200 people in its nine months. It actually got to 53,152 clients. But as well as reaching more people, with more family planning services, it also gave women wider choice about the form of contraception they wanted. Two thirds of new users chose long-acting forms of contraception, more than double the rate outside of the project. The aim for PPFN now is to roll out the same approach across Nigeria, reaching more young people, especially poorer women. ClusterPLUS is already running in three other states in Nigeria – and if it proves as successful as in Oyo State, Nigeria’s Government will be making big progress towards its family planning pledge. See this full interactive success story from Nigeria

IPPPF staff in Nigeria
15 September 2016

Creating a one-stop shop of services in Nigeria

On the ground in Nigeria, one of programme officers explains why outreach is so successful: “The project was a one-stop shop which brought services together. So a woman could have screening for breast and cervical cancer, counselling and have access to all methods of family planning at the same place. Also if a woman was detected with early stage of cervical cancer, we were able to carry out a curative operation."

IPPF outreach worker in Nigeria marketplace
13 September 2016

Working in the community

Olusula, 40, is a Community Health Extension Worker in Nigeria. "I refer clients through vouchers to the facility of their choice for long acting and reversible contraceptive methods too", she says.

Sayana Press contraceptive
12 September 2016

Sayana Press

Emiade Kudirat, 24, is a Community Health Extension Worker doing outreach in Nigeria. She specializes in the Sayana Press - a three-month, progestin-only injectable contraceptive favoured for its convenience in administration and portability. One patient, 24-year-old Bukola Polpoola, says she is happy that her treatment was free and easy.

Public health facility worker in Nigeria
12 September 2016

Public Facility Worker

Shodunke Mary, 53, has been a midwife from the Local Government Area Council for seven years in Nigeria. Now she is working with PPFN providing family planning counselling and a range of integrated sexual and reproductive health services. In addition, Mary also conducts on the job training to other facilities which are providing services for the PPFN model. "The model used by PPFN is successful because the services we provide are free, the providers are motivated and the community leaders are also involved in the implementation. Also, the commodities and equipment are always available."

IPPF health worker delivers cervical cancer screening
12 September 2016

Serving the community

"As a child I loved the medical profession so much. The uniforms of the health workers always caught my eyes. And I knew one day, I would be wearing one of those uniforms serving my community.”   Latifat Balogun explains how her childhood experiences led her to decide to train and work as a Community Health Extension Worker in Nigeria. She has been with PPFN for 20 years.

Taiwo receiving care at the FFPN clinic
12 September 2016

Family planning success: one mother's story from Nigeria

"I decided to use this clinic because I heard a lot of success stories about it.   I trust their judgment that is why I am here.”  Taiwo Ogunfayo, a 33-year-old interior decorator, is a client at the Liberty Stadium Clinic – one of Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN) facilities in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital in South West Nigeria. "It was through the outreach service in my community that I found out about PPFN. All the family planning methods are free if you can't afford to pay. There is no cost to the patient."  

Nigerian MA outreach
12 September 2016

Changing lives in Nigeria

Introduction Clients How it works The Team Overview Family Planning for the future Nigeria has Africa’s biggest population. And it’s still growing at 3% a year. A lack of family planning is one reason – many women and girls want contraception – but like millions around the world – can’t get it. But that could be about to change, thanks to a pilot project run by Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN), IPPF’s national member. It’s proving a huge success. This is its story, told by the women whose lives it has changed and the people working to change them. My name is Taiwo I decided to use this clinic because I heard a lot of success stories about it. It was through the outreach service in my community that I found out about the Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria. The interesting thing about PPFN's project in Oyo state is that if you need access to family planning, but can't pay, you can still get it. READ MY STORY 188 million Population 3.2% population growth per year 88% Poor and vulnerable 1/4 of young women will be mothers or pregnant by the age of 19 The team Read more about the team behind Nigeria's amazing success

A mother and baby at local outreach
26 August 2016

Expanding our range of services in Nigeria

IPPF's Member Association in Nigeria, the Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN), piloted a successful project over 9 months around family planning. It had a specific focus on accessing people who would not ordinarily be reached through services and worked with local partners to ensure that no one was left behind.  This project, funded by the Gates Foundation, exceeded targets significantly and has the potential to be rolled out in Nigeria and other countries. It has been successful in establishing new users of contraception and other sexual and reproductive health services.                        

Packard funding project in Benin
05 May 2016

IPPF funds youth-led projects to tackle abortion stigma

As part of our work in tackling abortion stigma, IPPF awards small grants to young people to create projects that would tackle the issue of abortion stigma in their communities. In 2015, small grants were awarded to promising projects submitted by young people in Ghana, Palestine, Spain, Macedonia and Nepal. In 2017, a further six grants were awarded to young people in Guinea, Kenya, Nepal, Puerto Rico, Sierra Leone and Venezuela. In 2019 five more grants were awarded to youth-led projects in Albania, Colombia, Nigeria, Spain and Tanzania. These documents give more information about what these projects set out to do, their methods and the results.

IPPF staff reaching out women in the market
24 September 2016

The story behind changing lives in Nigeria

SIZE defines many things about Nigeria. Being Africa’s most populous country ensures that plenty of the issues it faces are big. Nigeria’s population is around 188 million, and growing at more than 3% a year. Around a quarter of young women will be mothers or pregnant by the age of 19. One reason is a historically low use of contraception – at around 10%. One estimate suggests 35% of 15-24-year-olds who want access to contraception can’t get it – creating a huge unmet need for family planning. Nigeria’s Government has pledged to do something about that gap. It wants to increase the use of contraception to 36% by 2018 - its part in the global effort to give women around the world equal access to contraception. And a pilot programme run in Oyo State by the Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN), IPPF’s national member, has offered startling progress. ClusterPLUS is something of a hybrid. It was built on the foundation of PPFN’s previous work but added new thinking, including ideas developed by IPPF member associations in Kenya and Uganda, who helped PPFN adapt them for Nigeria. At its heart is a simple concept - partnership. The closer you can get to local communities, the better you work with national and local government and more you try to build local ownership, the better. The project used PPFN’s earlier development of “clusters” of clinics, pharmacies and other outlets, as a base. The original cluster project, introduced in 2009, was funded in part by the UK Department for International Development. One ClusterPLUS innovation was a tireless approach to community outreach. In villages without permanent centres, clinics would set-up for three days at a time in schools, churches, markets or mosques. But to make sure everyone who could benefit from them knew they were coming, workers armed with enthusiasm and megaphones would go around drumming-up interest first. These CHEWS (Community Health Extension Workers), lent from Nigeria’s Ministry, did far more than generate publicity though. They also lived in the communities and were trained to supply forms of contraception themselves. Women unable to get to a clinic, perhaps because of work, could visit a CHEW at home in the evening. Often they might bring a friend too. Greater accessibility boosted the numbers of women using contraception. Sherifat Adelke is a 32-year-old CHEW with the Joy Hospital in Ibadan. She thinks her Islamic faith helped one fellow Muslim to end his opposition to his wife using contraception. “He was furious at me and kept looking at my Hijab. Then he asked me if I was a Muslim at all. I told him the Quran didn’t instruct Muslims not to use Family Planning. After enough lecture, he agreed. That was a victory for me.” Male opposition wasn’t anything new. PPFN was already using “male motivators” to combat men’s ignorance about contraception. Owolabi Temidayo is one male motivator in Ibadan. “Some men believe that when their wives start using family planning they will become promiscuous. Others believe if their wives have implants they won’t be able to enjoy intercourse. The religious ones believe family planning is a sin. "I go places to educate men. I go to motor parks, markets, town hall meetings, speaking on the need for family planning. It goes a long way in clearing the misinformation out there.” One partnership which proved critical to ClusterPLUS was between PPFN and local government in Oyo State – it helped to galvanise local leadership and create buy-in from officials. And the support was concrete. As well as providing three clinical staff, local authorities supplied the contraceptives and places for training, for meetings and for clinics. ClusterPLUS also set out to emphasize the benefit of long acting forms of contraception such as implants and IUCDs. And their provision was integrated with other services. Someone coming to a clinic for breast or cervical cancer screening or a test for HIV or a sexual transmitted infection would find family planning available there and then. Reaching those in poorer communities was also a priority. 28-year-old Tawa Agungbaide was responsible for making sure that one group of 63 women who couldn’t afford to pay for contraception gain access to it nevertheless. “We realized finance was a huge challenge. In some instances, it wasn’t a question of paying for services, but also of not even having enough money to pay for their transport to a clinic.” The solution, says Tawa, was a voucher scheme, funding transport and contraception for women who simply couldn’t fund it themselves. It helped her group and many others. “With eligibility criteria, we were able to single women who really couldn’t afford family planning. The voucher scheme was able to solve that. I feel fulfilled helping these women.” And new technology has played a major part too. An app on tablets and smartphones allowed health workers to input what they’d handed out every day – quickly and in real time. The supply team could then make sure that a delivery point never ran out of supplies – avoiding the dreaded stock-out. How well has it worked? The figures are impressive. The project aimed to reach 20,200 people in its nine months. It actually got to 53,152 clients. But as well as reaching more people, with more family planning services, it also gave women wider choice about the form of contraception they wanted. Two thirds of new users chose long-acting forms of contraception, more than double the rate outside of the project. The aim for PPFN now is to roll out the same approach across Nigeria, reaching more young people, especially poorer women. ClusterPLUS is already running in three other states in Nigeria – and if it proves as successful as in Oyo State, Nigeria’s Government will be making big progress towards its family planning pledge. See this full interactive success story from Nigeria

IPPPF staff in Nigeria
15 September 2016

Creating a one-stop shop of services in Nigeria

On the ground in Nigeria, one of programme officers explains why outreach is so successful: “The project was a one-stop shop which brought services together. So a woman could have screening for breast and cervical cancer, counselling and have access to all methods of family planning at the same place. Also if a woman was detected with early stage of cervical cancer, we were able to carry out a curative operation."

IPPF outreach worker in Nigeria marketplace
13 September 2016

Working in the community

Olusula, 40, is a Community Health Extension Worker in Nigeria. "I refer clients through vouchers to the facility of their choice for long acting and reversible contraceptive methods too", she says.

Sayana Press contraceptive
12 September 2016

Sayana Press

Emiade Kudirat, 24, is a Community Health Extension Worker doing outreach in Nigeria. She specializes in the Sayana Press - a three-month, progestin-only injectable contraceptive favoured for its convenience in administration and portability. One patient, 24-year-old Bukola Polpoola, says she is happy that her treatment was free and easy.

Public health facility worker in Nigeria
12 September 2016

Public Facility Worker

Shodunke Mary, 53, has been a midwife from the Local Government Area Council for seven years in Nigeria. Now she is working with PPFN providing family planning counselling and a range of integrated sexual and reproductive health services. In addition, Mary also conducts on the job training to other facilities which are providing services for the PPFN model. "The model used by PPFN is successful because the services we provide are free, the providers are motivated and the community leaders are also involved in the implementation. Also, the commodities and equipment are always available."

IPPF health worker delivers cervical cancer screening
12 September 2016

Serving the community

"As a child I loved the medical profession so much. The uniforms of the health workers always caught my eyes. And I knew one day, I would be wearing one of those uniforms serving my community.”   Latifat Balogun explains how her childhood experiences led her to decide to train and work as a Community Health Extension Worker in Nigeria. She has been with PPFN for 20 years.

Taiwo receiving care at the FFPN clinic
12 September 2016

Family planning success: one mother's story from Nigeria

"I decided to use this clinic because I heard a lot of success stories about it.   I trust their judgment that is why I am here.”  Taiwo Ogunfayo, a 33-year-old interior decorator, is a client at the Liberty Stadium Clinic – one of Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN) facilities in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital in South West Nigeria. "It was through the outreach service in my community that I found out about PPFN. All the family planning methods are free if you can't afford to pay. There is no cost to the patient."  

Nigerian MA outreach
12 September 2016

Changing lives in Nigeria

Introduction Clients How it works The Team Overview Family Planning for the future Nigeria has Africa’s biggest population. And it’s still growing at 3% a year. A lack of family planning is one reason – many women and girls want contraception – but like millions around the world – can’t get it. But that could be about to change, thanks to a pilot project run by Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN), IPPF’s national member. It’s proving a huge success. This is its story, told by the women whose lives it has changed and the people working to change them. My name is Taiwo I decided to use this clinic because I heard a lot of success stories about it. It was through the outreach service in my community that I found out about the Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria. The interesting thing about PPFN's project in Oyo state is that if you need access to family planning, but can't pay, you can still get it. READ MY STORY 188 million Population 3.2% population growth per year 88% Poor and vulnerable 1/4 of young women will be mothers or pregnant by the age of 19 The team Read more about the team behind Nigeria's amazing success

A mother and baby at local outreach
26 August 2016

Expanding our range of services in Nigeria

IPPF's Member Association in Nigeria, the Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN), piloted a successful project over 9 months around family planning. It had a specific focus on accessing people who would not ordinarily be reached through services and worked with local partners to ensure that no one was left behind.  This project, funded by the Gates Foundation, exceeded targets significantly and has the potential to be rolled out in Nigeria and other countries. It has been successful in establishing new users of contraception and other sexual and reproductive health services.                        

Packard funding project in Benin
05 May 2016

IPPF funds youth-led projects to tackle abortion stigma

As part of our work in tackling abortion stigma, IPPF awards small grants to young people to create projects that would tackle the issue of abortion stigma in their communities. In 2015, small grants were awarded to promising projects submitted by young people in Ghana, Palestine, Spain, Macedonia and Nepal. In 2017, a further six grants were awarded to young people in Guinea, Kenya, Nepal, Puerto Rico, Sierra Leone and Venezuela. In 2019 five more grants were awarded to youth-led projects in Albania, Colombia, Nigeria, Spain and Tanzania. These documents give more information about what these projects set out to do, their methods and the results.