More women are embracing the use of modern contraceptives. No less than 1,713,000 additional Nigerian women and girls that want to avoid or delay pregnancy have embraced the use of at least one modern method of contracetive according to the 2018 Annual Report on family planning, launched at the 5th International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) held in Kigali, Rwanda.
From the report, the use of modern contraception is on the rise in Nigeria as the Federal government works to expand family planning services. The rate of modern contraceptive use among married women increased to 12.2 percent.
Nigeria is grouped among the nations with the most fertile women in the world. A Nigerian woman gives birth to an average of 5.5 children in her lifetime. Since 2012, the Federal government of Nigeria has worked with key stakeholders to address socio-cultural norms such as preference for large families, religious tenets, and women’s lack of decision-making power related to sexual and reproductive health.
The new report says a total of 2,060,000 unintended pregnancies, 735,000 unsafe abortions and 12,000 maternal deaths were all averted in the country between July 2017 and July 2018 even as a total of 6.2 million Nigerian women aged 15-49 of reproductive age are now using at least one modern method of contraception. Read more