Resources persons at a three-day training on media advocacy on family planning in Awka, have called on journalists to use their platforms to bring about social behaviorial change on family planning issues.
The workshop, which had in attendance journalists from select media houses in Anambra State, was organized by the Challenge Initiative, TCI, and Development Communication Network, Devcoms.
Anambra State Director of Public Health and Disease Control, Dr Uchechukwu Onyejimbe in his opening remark said the essence of the training is for the media practitioners including the social media operators to use their platforms to inform Ndi Anambra on the importance of family planning to increase awareness .
Dr Onyejimbe noted that contraceptive prevalence rate in the state is not encouraging in spite of funds pumped into the programme but expressed hope that it will increase after the workshop.
In his presentation, the state Programme Coordinator, The Challenge Initiative, Mr. Egbe Aneotah, said TCI is an ambitious programme to accelerate demand driven participation with focus on family planning goal to increase capability of state governments to implement effective family planning programme especially among the urban poor.
Also speaking, the Media Development Facilitator, Devcoms, Mr. Mayowa Adeniran, explained that Devcoms supply FP commodities to health facilities every two months to ensure availability and accessibility to those, who need them.
While talking about critical steps that must be taken to achieve demographic dividends, Mr. Adeniran stressed that family planning is a developmental issue that affects people across board.
For the Anambra State family planning coordinator, Mrs. Chioma Okedo, myths and misconceptions about family planning methods are unfounded, adding that it has numerous benefits.
The event featured question and answer session.
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