The Ondo State Government has teamed up with the Lifespring Development Foundation to improve the availability and management of commodities used for sexual and reproductive healthcare across the state.
The initiative is expected to help health authorities better monitor supplies and make informed projections, thereby reducing the risk of shortages, expired products and unnecessary wastage.
The partnership will particularly support services covering family planning, maternal and child health, as well as other reproductive healthcare needs.
The state Reproductive Health Coordinator and Deputy Director of Family Health in the Ministry of Health, Dr Toyin Adeyalo-Ogundare, disclosed this on Friday during a two-day training on forecasting and quantifying healthcare commodities for health workers.
She said the collaboration with LSDF, which began earlier in the year, was already benefiting women of reproductive age and children in the state.
“It is a partner that has been with us since the beginning of this year. It is a consortium with another group. So they are implementing an SRH project by the Federal Government.
“So Ondo State is part of the beneficiary and this partnership is in three local governments – Ondo West, Ese Odo and Ifedore.”
According to Adeyalo-Ogundare, the training was organised to equip health personnel with the skills required to determine the quantity of reproductive health commodities needed at different facilities.
“This will help us to be able to forecast what we need using what we have used, data that we have used to forecast or to predict what we are likely to use so that we can, as much as possible, avoid understocking and expiry of healthcare commodities.”
She noted that the state’s healthcare supplies cater to several areas, including family planning and maternal and child health.
Adeyalo-Ogundare explained that data from health facilities would also be assessed to determine which family planning commodities were most frequently used and investigate possible reasons for low demand or shortages.
“What we are trying to also look at is, because sometimes when you look at this data coming from the facilities, you can see that for this month, how regular are people coming and what kind of services out of the family planning should be offered, different types of family planning offers, which one are they using the most?
“Then when it is less, we look at it: why is it less? Is it because the commodities are not available in the facility? Or is it because they have finished using it quickly? So that’s what we are trying to look at and it will help us to make informed decisions,” Adeyalo-Ogundare stated.
The LSDF State Team Lead, Mercy Okeyode, said the programme was aimed at improving the capacity of health workers responsible for managing reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health commodities.
She added that ensuring steady access to essential supplies would improve healthcare delivery and contribute to better maternal health outcomes.
“The availability will thereby support quality service delivery and improve maternal health outcomes. The training is expected to enhance the capacity of participants to generate accurate forecasts, improve commodity distribution, reduce stock-outs and wastage, and strengthen the overall health supply chain in Ondo State,” Okeyode stated.