Child spacing services getting more popular in Gombe
Intro
Health experts say more and more women in Gombe are now accessing child spacing services
According to child spacing service providers in two Primary health Centres in Gombe, the number is increasing daily
They say this is good for the family, the community and the state
Maimuna Zambuk, who was part of a team of journalists on site visits gives us additional report on the child spacing situation in Gombe.
Narration
Its was 10.30 am when we arrived at the Primary Healthcare Centre Pantami, Gombe.
Many women were already present at the family planning clinic.
According to Nurse Zarah Usman who is the Deputy In charge at the clinic, majority of the women were there for the child spacing services available at the Centre.
She said the large number of women has become a daily occurrence at the PHC
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‘’ there are influx of women now more than before”
According to her
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“Every Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays nothing less than fifty clients are visiting the facility for Family Planning services.”
On Thursday she said the situation is however different
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Thursday are always low turnout.
Among the women present at the PHC on the day of our visit is this mother who asked to remain anonymous
She said she brought her daughter for a follow up visit since their last
On that visit she confirmed her daughter received an implant to help her space her next delivery to when was convenient for her
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‘’ I brought my daughter to the clinic for FP and the health providers suggested implant for her which she go for that. Along the line there were some complication which lead to the release of blood and some fluid, at long run she has to pop it out herself, to her she doesn’t know the reason for that.
Nurse Usman said situations like that are not common
She said it happens only when women refuse to adhere to the rules given to her after receiving the implant.
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‘’there are some strict guidance that a client must abide after the insertion of implant in the arm
The guidance according to her are;
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“they are not supposed to lift heavy objects in the first four days of the insertion, if this is neglected the implant may shift and one can easily get pregnant
She says women are also told
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“not to have sexual activity for at least the first seven days,
Nurse Zainab said because some of the women are not able to deny their husbands sex during those first seven days
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“condoms are been given in case if the sexual desires arises but most of them don’t collect it, some are shy while others don’t know why.
Nurse Zainab however admitted that implants may sometimes fail in stopping pregnancy
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“due to lack of experience while inserting the plant and thereby end up inserting at the wrong place”
Nurse ZainabGarba is the Facility Manager of Bolari PHC Gombe
She says another reason implant may fail because some women lie about their pregnancy situation before receiving the implant
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‘’some came for implant to be inserted to them not knowing fully that they were already pregnant”
She agreed with Nurse Usman that implants are safe and effective as a child spacing method
They also agree that there are no truth in the claim by some women that after insertion of the implant that it sometimes changes position in the arm of the woman
According to them these are false claims that have no truth
They advised married women and men to visit any of the 400 PHCs in the state where child spacing services are offered to get correct information and enroll for any of the methods they prefer
According to Saadatu Sambo who is the Gombe state Family Planning Coordinator
At the PHCs
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‘’we inform the people of the importance of child spacing, the benefit that both the mother and the child gets, the different methods they can use, advices on then.
According to report on Family Planning for July 2021 by the Gombe state Primary Healthcare Agency, 4189 accessed child spacing services .
Experts like Nurses Usman and Garba say the number is an improvement on that of June.
