A non-governmental advocacy working group, the Family Health Initiative Ogun (FIHO), has asked mothers to embrace family planning and child birth spacing methods as part of efforts to improve mothers’ quality of life and their families.
Consequently, the group, as part of 2019 World Mothers-Day celebration in Ogun state, declared that the mothers deserve adequate care from the home front, in their community and the society at large in order to effectively discharge their primary responsibilities, explaining that their choice of family planning and child birth spacing methods would allow them to live a worthy life.
Speaking ahead of the commemoration slated for Sunday (today) in Abeokuta, Kemi Balogun, Chairperson of the Family Health Initiative Ogun (FIHO), noted that couples would enjoy better union through an informed decision on family planning towards ensuring child survival, saying it is a cost effective intervention that could prevent maternal deaths and illnesses.
She said, “It is imperative for couples and parents to speak in one voice and make a decision on the suitable family planning and child birth spacing methods at improving quality of life of the family, ensuring child survival as well as preventing maternal deaths and illness caused as a result of pregnancy related complications.
” Findings have shown that family planning intervention prevents 30% of maternal deaths while childbirth spacing also allows mothers rest between pregnancies in order to regain strength, spend quality time with each child with less stress and anxiety.”
She however urged fathers to promote closer relationships, encourage and show support for mothers in accessing effective family planning services, saying that policy makers should also invent and create enabling environment for family planning programme to thrive.
RAZAQ AYINLA, Abeokuta
