Over 11,000 children were treated for Cholera between 2017 and 2024, the Lagos State Government has revealed. It also noted that over 248,962 women are currently accessing family planning services from approximately 257 trained community pharmacists and patent medicine vendors in Lagos State.
The figures were made known by the Family Planning Coordinator, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr Adeleye Latifat, at the Colossus Hotel, Ikeja on Thursday. She said in six years, 11,475 children under the age of five years were treated with ORS and Zinc while 2,812 children under the age of five who had Pneumonia were given Amoxicillin DT during treatment. While presenting a report at the Lagos State Integrate Mid Project Dissemination Meeting, Latifat said several families had been accessing family planning services.
Apart from the 248,962 women accessing the services, the coordinator said 3900 referrals were made to public facilities from CPs and PPMVs facilities. Further giving an update on the period in view, she said, “759,494 condoms were distributed, 166,079 oral pills given, 10,525 injectable administered, and 3,814 implants inserted.”
On the treatment of children, she added that “19,776 U-5 children with fever (were) tested with RDT and 11,393 (were) treated with ACT.” She highlighted the challenges of the team to be the high cost of family planning commodities that “has hampered the stocking of FP commodities by some providers and the reduction in service uptake across the board attributed to the high cost of commodities, consumables, and overall business running cost.”
In May, a non-profit organization, DKT International Nigeria, enlightened residents of the Makoko community in Lagos on the importance of family planning. The NGO said family planning had been identified as the most cost-effective means to improve the health of mothers in Nigeria.
