Onyebuichi Ezigbo in Abuja
The Federal Ministry of Health has said it was hoping to get assistance of donor partners to offset the $4 million counterpart fund debt used for the annual purchase of family health contraceptives.
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, who disclosed this yesterday, during the Ministerial update on COVID-19 pandemic, said the debt accrued during the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic that forced government to repurpose funds meant for family planning campaign.
As part of the partnership arrangement with the UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, Nigeria had committed to sharing the cost of contraceptives with UNFPA.
In line with Nigeria’s FP-2020 commitment, the federal government was expected to contribute $4 million annually to purchase contraceptives through a Basket Fund with external donors.
Nigeria has not been able to meet its obligation since 2018, and contributions from the UNFPA and other donors account for the bulk of funds used to procure family planning commodities in the country.
The minister however, did not disclose the donor partners that would be bailing the country from the debt.
He blamed the $4 million debt on disruptions caused by COVID -19 pandemic.
“Why the country could not pay its counterpart funding for FP was that COVID-19 became the immediate problem the government needed to solve then.
“As soon as we have finalised the plans we will disclose the donor partners,” he said.
The minister said the COVID-19 pandemic had forced the ministry to divert funding from essential family planning services and strained national health budgets.
He said there was need to finance sexual and reproductive health services in times of crisis.
According to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO), survey of 105 countries, about 95 percent of these countries witnessed disruptions to health services due to the pandemic while 68 per cent reported disruptions to family planning services.
Currently, an estimated 257 million women need family planning services but could get them.
Donors partners are currently projected to provide US$ 8.6 billion of this financing between 2020 and 2030, meaning that an additional $59.9 billion is needed to end the unmet needs for family planning. Total resources need to increase from around $ 6.3 billion annually in 2020 to around $10.8 billion annually by 2030.
