The Federal Government has expressed concern about the high health gap and sexual reproduction rights (SRHR), especially among young women in Nigeria, since it has left many girls vulnerable to various health risks.
This was the highlight on Thursday in Abuja in a national political dialogue of a day on the improvement of adolescents' access to sexual and reproductive health services organized by Nigeria Health Watch.
The Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Mohammed Ali Pate, said that the reproductive health gap impacts manifests as disparities in access to information and family planning services that result in inequalities in health results.
The minister who was represented by the director of Family Health, Dr. Binyem Ukraine, said that these gaps are often due to barriers formed by economic, sociocultural, religious and geographical factors. Find and human resources challenges among others.
These disparities, he said, continue to hinder the health, well -being and economic potential of the Nigerians.
“Although he acknowledges that health is a fundamental human right, the Ministry in association with its interested parties has gathered policies, frameworks and guidelines to provide a strategic direction to address inequities and access to SRH services in Nigeria by ensuring that all Nigerians, whether in an urban or rural area, rural areas, regardless of income, education and status have access to family planning.
“Access in this context implies availability, affordability, acceptability and adaptation of SRH services and information.”
Also speaking, the managing director of Nigeria Health Watch, Vivianne Ihekweazu, revealed that young women in the country's adolescent fertility rate remain alarmingly high with 117 births for every 1,000 girls from 15 to 19 years Age is only 7.8%.
Ihekweazu said that the figures reflect a critical gap in access to quality family planning, sexual education of integral sexuality, friendly health services for Andyouth, and add that many adolescents in Nigeria, especially those in rural or marginalized communities, continue with significant barriers to access information, services and care that they need to make informed decisions about their health and the future.
For its part, knowledge management leads in Nigeria Health Watch, Anwuli Nwankwo emphasized the need for specific interventions and inclusive policies to close the gap in access and information, especially for vulnerable populations.