According to PM News,Prof Babatunde Osotimehin,the Executive Director,UN Population Fund {UNFPA},says a Husband's School will be introduced in Nigeria to boost access to family planning and other reproductive health services.The excutive director made this known during an interactive session with the media in Abuja today wednesday.Osotimehin said he is in Nigeria to work with the Federal Government through its vatrious agencies looking at human developmemt through the intervention of family planing.He said ''I am talking about human development in the broad sense because most people restrict family planning to the context of saving the mother's life.Saving the mother's life component of family planning is also important,but family planning goes far beyond saving mother's life''.He explained the concept of the husbands school,which started in Niger Republic,was now replicated in many parts of Africa.He said a mentor would talk to the men over a certin period of time and talk more about the welfare of women and adolesecent girls.We have later observed that the women stated going to antenatal clinics,women have safe deliveries at centres,we also found that many women take their children to hospitals and centres where they get proper advice on immunisation,malaria infections,diarrhoea diseases and other childs survival interventions.Our indicators show a significant increase in the uptake of family planning services''.Osotimehin said the men were happy because they realised that the lecture they received had led to the reduction of infant and maternal mortality.He said the organisation would replicate the school in other African countries,stressing that it is something we do under the tree in a village.According to him,there is a template which UNFPA Nigeria can adopt and use.''UNFPA will work with the government to ensure that we raise this considerably and make sure Nigerians understands the centrality of family planning as a human development intervention''.
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