An NGO, Pathfinder International, has called for sustained sexual and reproductive healthcare services during COVID-19 pandemic.
Its Country Director, Dr Amina Dorayi, said this was to check unintended pregnancies, reduce maternal deaths and population explosion in the country.
Dorayi spoke on Friday at an ongoing webinar tagged: “Sustaining Sexual and Reproductive Health Services During COVID-19 Pandemic’’, in commemoration of the 2020 World Population Day (WPD).
WPD is marked annually on July 11 to raise awareness about the population and population issues.
Dorayi said: “The current COVID-19 pandemic has brought a lot of challenges to the floor and in our country, this is directly or indirectly related to the population under development.
“One of them is the issues of these children that roam the street in the Northern part of Nigeria, which is popularly known as the Almajiris (Qur’anic Islamic education pupils).
“Also, we know that the security situation is also a challenge, and we know that this is directly or indirectly related to population challenge.
“Another major one is rape and gender-based violence we are facing currently, and all these coupled with the weak health structures and others.
“If we do not take action to safeguard the rights, health of women and vulnerability during this pandemic, a lot will be witnessed in the future.’’
She said that the COVID-19 crisis had taken a struggling turn on people and also the economy, but we are not affected equally.
“Women, who are at the frontline are health workers; we know that they do so, not only in this country, but everywhere are disproportionally exposed to the virus.
“The supply chain around the world is being disrupted and this affects the availability of contraceptive services, heightens the risk of pregnancies and also countries have also been in total or partial lockdown.
“So, the health system is struggling to cope with these demands and the services that are not COVID-19 services are being sidelined.
“All these issues cause a lot of challenges that could affect the population going forward.”
According to Dorayi, there is need to mobilise political will and resources to address population issues and set the pace for a very vibrant future for all of us.
“We all know that the global population has a great impact on development and this is particularly so in developing countries, especially the country like Nigeria.
“The young people population far surpasses that of the productive age group.
“We know that the productive age group are those that kind of work to gain economic benefits for the rest of the population.
“So, in PATHFINDER International, we also trying to integrate health and environment work to address the holistic need of communities, at least, the most vulnerable populations including those who have been displaced due to conflict,’’ she said.