The Federal Government says it relies on its donor partners to pay a $4 million contribution to the annual purchase of contraceptives through the Basket Fund with external donors.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, made the announcement on Monday in Abuja, during the bi-weekly Meeting of Ministers on the update on the response and development of the country’s health sector against COVID-19.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ehanire, in March 2022, renewed its financial commitment on behalf of Nigeria with the support of the Federal Executive Council.
The country, with UNFPA, the United Nations agency for Sexual and Reproductive Health, and others committed to share contraceptive costs with UNFPA from 2023.
In line with Nigeria’s FP2020 commitments, the Federal Government must contribute $4 million annually for the purchase of contraceptives through the Basket Fund with external donors.
However, Nigeria has not committed to this amount as of 2018, and contributions from UNFPA and other donors account for most of the funds used to obtain family planning commodities in the country.
The need to increase domestic funding, however, is important to ensure sustainable funding for family planning commodities and service providers, to reduce heavy donor dependence, especially when reducing aid from abroad.
The minister did not announce the donor partner that will bail the country out of the debt.
He blamed the $4 million debt on the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Why can’t the state pay partner funds for FP because COVID-19 is an immediate problem that the government needs to solve.
“As soon as we have completed our plans, we will announce our donor partners,” he said.
The minister said the COVID-19 pandemic has diverted funding from vital family planning services and the tight national health budget, reinforcing the critical need to fund sexual and reproductive health services in times of crisis.
According to a survey by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 105 countries, 90 percent experienced disruptions in health services due to the pandemic and 68 percent reported disruptions in family planning services.
Today, an estimated 257 million women want to prevent pregnancy but are not using safe, modern methods of contraception.
From 2020-2030, the total investment needed to end the need for family planning in 120 countries is estimated at $68.5 billion.
Donor partners are currently expected to provide $8.6 billion of this funding between 2020 and 2030, meaning an additional $59.9 billion is needed to end the need for family planning.
Total resources should increase from about $6.3 billion per year in 2020 to about $10.8 billion per year in 2030.
In the last few decades, significant progress has been made to increase access and availability of contraception worldwide.
According to the 2022 State of World Population Report, global consumption has increased and unmet need has decreased.
More than three quarters of the 1.1 billion women with a desire to limit or delay childbearing use modern contraceptive methods.