Promoting the Green Dot Logo in Oyo State.
As Nigeria’s population grows every day, with an average of five or six births per woman according to the Nigeria Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) 2018, it has become crucial that government increases its commitment to family planning for the wellbeing of its citizens, particularly women and children.
One way of achieving this is for the government to make family planning information and services equitable, accessible and affordable to all irrespective of social, religious or economic status. To show its commitment to this effect, a new family planning logo was launched in 2017 tagged the “Green Dot” logo, signifying an availability of family planning services at health facilities, especially at the primary health care centers that are the first point of health service delivery for millions of Nigerians in their communities.
Four years after the launch of the logo, many States are yet to domesticate the logo, and even though Oyo state had launched the Green Dot logo, awareness on its benefits was still far from reaching the people who would most benefit from it. Many people in the State did not know they could seek these services easily or where to seek them if they so desired. A bigger challenge was availability of reproductive health and family planning services for young people. Due to cultural and religious nuances, young people were especially affected because they didn’t know they were able to walk into healthcare facilities to seek modern contraceptives.
To help mitigate some of these problems, the Sustaining Programs and Partnerships on Reproductive Health Transformation (SuPPoRT), a six-month initiative that provides continued technical assistance and institutional support towards sustaining the family planning gains achieved by Nigeria Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI) over the last 10 years, provided support to the Oyo State government in April 2021 to create further awareness on the Green Dot Logo in the State. The event had in attendance the Commissioner of Health, Executive Secretary of the State Primary Health Care Board, Permanent Secretary at the State Ministry of Health, Directors from both the Ministry and the Board, implementing partners working in the family planning space and other relevant stakeholders.
The re-launch of the logo is only a first step in the campaign to making it an easily recognizable symbol of family planning. The Initiative thus went further to support the State government to promote this logo through entertainment education spots on radio stations across the States, social mobilization in the communities, outreaches in primary healthcare centers where 180 site danglers were hung and using various content format on digital media.
It is hoped that the Oyo State government builds up on this stride they have achieved by ensuring that citizens are continually educated on the importance of family planning as individuals, families, contributors to the development of their own State, and ultimately, Nigeria at large.
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Sustaining Programs and Partnerships on Reproductive Health Transformation (SuPPoRT) is a six-month initiative funded by TJ. Mather in Oyo State and at the Federal level to provide continued technical assistance and institutional support towards sustaining Family Planning gains achieved by Nigeria Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI) over the last 10 years.
