51,000 Borno Women Embrace Family Planning Initiative

The GATE Foundation, in collaboration with the Borno State Government, has successfully sensitized over 167,000 women in Borno State about the benefits of family planning, resulting in 51,000 women adopting the practice. Chizo Ezem, a representative of the GATE Foundation, announced these figures during an event marking the close-out of the IntegrateE 2.0 project in Maiduguri.

The project involved training 442 community pharmacists in family planning and the integrated management of childhood illnesses, enhancing service quality and data from the private sector. Ezem reported that 16,000 of the women who adopted family planning were new acceptors, and over 42,000 children received essential primary health services.

The project also integrated community pharmacists into the formal health sector, ensuring they operate under the supervision of the state Ministry of Health. Ezem urged the government to provide adequate funding for ongoing monitoring and to expand training coverage beyond the current seven local government areas.