Background: Proportion of women of reproductive age is 820,006 (NPC 2016). State maternal health indicators show that maternal mortality ratio is 286 per 100,000 live births (NDHS 2013). This means that more than 2,345 women in Abia State die from childbirth and pregnancy-related causes annually. Contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) in Abia State is 12.9 percent (NDHS 2018). Unmet FP need is 28.5 percent while fertility rate is 5.3 children (NDHS 2018). To improve access to quality FP Services, The Challenge Initiative (TCI) Nigeria Hub is supporting the Government of Abia State to implement an innovative "Business Unusual" proven FP Model. The objective is to demonstrate improved access to quality FP counselling and services using SBCC.
Materials and Methods:
TCI provided technical and financial assistance to the Abia State Primary Health Care Development Agency to implement high impact FP community driven and people centered interventions on Advocacy, Demand Generation and Service Delivery. These interventions were geared towards providing an enabling environment for FP, creating demand for FP and providing high quality FP services in Health Facilities.
Results:
SBCC Committee strengthened Government ownership, better coordination of activities, diffusion of FP messages and entrenched sustainability. As a result of these interventions, New FP Acceptors increased from 24,141 during a one year period without TCI support (July 2017 – June 2018) to 66,555 during a one year period of TCI support (July 2018 – June 2019) accounting for 46% increase in New FP Acceptors in Abia State (DHIS2).
Conclusion:
While barriers to accessing FP counselling and service delivery exist, there is need to ensure a well-coordinated FP Programme with improved stakeholder involvement, increased demand generation for FP and ensure quality FP counselling and service delivery for women of reproductive age.
