A Non-Governmental Organization, Awareness Initiative for Good Living, AIGL has taken its campaign to the Women wing of the Christian Association of Nigerian, WOWICAN in Kwara State.
The importance of child spacing to the health and wellbeing of the entire family was explained to a group of religious leaders from different groups and denominations across the Christain fold in Kwara State on Thursday at the secretariat of the Kwara State Christain Association of Nigeria.
The Chairman of AIGL, Ajibola Wahab in his opening remarks explained that the focus of his group is on three sectors: Traditional rulers, Faith-Based Organizations and Technocrats as a way of reaching out to all spheres of the society, government inclusive.
Ajibola enumerated the effort of his organization in securing a budget line for family planning in the state’s budget, thereby increasing the chances of awareness and effectiveness of family planning efforts in the state, saving the life of women from preventable deaths during childbearing.
The AIGL leader in Kwara State who said that his NGO has remained steadfast sponsored by the continuity fund provided for it be the Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative, NURHI after its departure from Kwara State due to non remittance of the mandatory counterpart fund by the state government also stated that in its current outreach of programmes, ten local governments have been effectively captured in the state.
He made a passionate plea to all stakeholders to support the initiative as a way of showing love for the women and the entire family set up while also commending the support of the Pathfinder International for collaborating with his NGO after NUHRI departed the state.
In her own contribution, Mrs. Adebola Ajibike Ilorin, a practicing nurse with the Kwara State Children Clinic, Centre Igboro, Ilorin explained the various types of Child spacing opportunities open to women as well as the myth surrounding all of them.
Ilori explained that there are injection, insertion, pills and the traditional methods all of which are known to assist in effective child spacing without necessarily limiting how many children a family can give birth to but emphasizing the need for spacing to allow the woman’s body rst and regain strength before another child is given birth to.
She further explained that some known complaints about family planning includes alleged protruding bellies in ladies, bleeding during menstrual circles and occasional dizziness from headaches but however, she explained that there is no basis for protruding belies based on the nature of the female reproductive system and that bleeding women should stop drinking milk if not inside milk and must avoid taking blood tonic.
The Nursing sister explained that family planning is not a way of limiting how many children that a family can give birth to but that spacing will enhance good planning, good health and well being of the family in a way that the woman bearing children will remain healthy and strong no matter how many children she give birth to.
Earlier, Bilkis Modupe Oladimeji, the Coordinator of the programme explained the age-long relationship between WOWICAN and AIGL as well as other women groups in the state commending them for their usual cooperation and support.
Oladimeji explained that as human beings, there is need to do all what is possible to curb death of women in labour as it is preventable, it is godly and adds to the joy of the society adding that her NGO has gone as far as ten local government areas in the state to ensure women are adequately sensitized on how they can have safe childbearing through child spacing in family planning.
In her own contribution the outgoing Chairman, Women wing of the Christian Association of Nigeria, WOWICAN, Prophetess Bosede Adimabua appreciated the several efforts of women in NGOs in sensitizing her members across the state.
Adimabua said that WOWICAN has a good network across the state and would do all it can to spread the message of child spacing as an essential for good family planning.
She hinted that as soon as a new Chairman for WOWICAN is elected, she would personally bring her for introduction to all relevant women groups so that she could immediately continue from where she stops her developmental work.
The Prophetess also informed that she had started an NGO which would be unveiled soon, to take care of issues relating to the general wellbeing of women and children in the state and the country at large adding that WOWICAN has a good network of members who will do a great job within one to two weeks.
The event was well attended by women leaders from all the local governments in the state.
