‘No family planning budgets in states’

There are no specific budget lines for family planning at the states, the Country Director of Health Policy Plus (HP+) Project Nigeria, Onoriode Ezire, has said.

Quoting a policy brief “Evidence and Advocacy: Unlocking Resources for Family Planning in Nigeria” published by his organization, he said instead, family planning was integrated in the general reproductive health budget.

The project, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, (USAID) and implemented by Palladium among others conducted a qualitative assessment of the family planning policy and funding landscape nationally and in Bauchi, Sokoto, and Ebonyi states in 2016.

Ezire said in the absence of family planning budget lines in states, there was no access to reliable and timely data on funding flows, adding that as a result, the identification of funding gaps for advocacy purposes does not occur, and such messages are rarely shared with decision-makers.