WORLD CONTRACEPTION DAY 2022
ARFH Joins The Rest of The world to Commemorate This Year’s World Contraception Day.
Birth control, also known as contraception, is the use of medicines, devices, or surgery to prevent pregnancy. There are many different types. Some are reversible, while others are permanent. Some types can also help prevent sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
ARFH as a leading indigenous non-governmental organization has implemented several projects that expands the use of contraceptives among women of reproductive age (WRA) including adolescents and youth interventions.
ARFH recently implemented the Resilient & Accelerated Scale-Up Of DMPA-SC/SI in Nigeria (RASuDiN) project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Children Investment Fund Foundation to increase the use, acceptance, availability & accessibility of DMPA-SC/SI as part of a broader contraceptive method mix in Nigeria. The project was implemented in all 217 local government areas (LGAs) in 10 project states of Anambra, Delta, Enugu, Kwara, Lagos, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau & Rivers.
The RASuDiN Project which is a model for national replication in Nigeria recorded a total uptake of DMPA-SC: 1,072,046; New Acceptors of DMPA-SC: 562,517 (which contributed about 21% of Total New Acceptors of all modern FP: 2,739,926). The project also recorded milestones in self-injection uptake with 94,942 WRA.
Contraceptives enable women and adolescent girls to exercise their right to decide when to get pregnant, number of children and how to space their children including how to have a pleasurable and safe sexual experience without the risk of unintended pregnancies. Contraception also improves the socioeconomic opportunities for women and open up more educational opportunities for adolescent girls.
Access to family planning and contraception services, free of coercion or impediment, is a component of the right to health that is central to women’s autonomy and agency and key in the realization of women’s rights to equality and non-discrimination, life, sexual and reproductive health rights and other human rights.