Nasarawa State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NAPHDA), has trained 20 journalists on the development of effective Family Planning messages to improve services uptake in the state.
The training was in collaboration with two NGOs- The Challenge Initiative(TCI) and Development Communication (Devcoms).
Speaking at the event on Saturday in Lafia, Executive Chairman of the agency, Dr Mohammed Adis, said the training had become imperative in order to effectively reach the target audience with the right message towards improving the uptake of Family Planning services.
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Represented by Dr Dahiru AbdulKareem, a director in the agency, the chairman said that despite the benefits of family planning to the well-being of the family and its impact on maternal mortality, the uptake of services in the state was still very low.
He said that the 2018 National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) puts the Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) in Nasarawa State at 14.3 per cent.
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Adis said that the state was targeting 27 per cent CPR, which could only be achieved with the collaboration of the media through giving out the right message.
Similarly, Mr Ishaya Amegwa, State Health Educator of NAPHDA, said the essence of the workshop was to enable the journalists identify and segment their audiences for childbirth spacing in order reach them with the right message for acceptibilty.
Also, Mr Olumide Adetioye, the Demand Generation Technical Lead, TCI, gave some tips on how to develop messages for effective Family Planning services uptake.
He emphasised the need for the messages to be audience-specific, data based and credible, clear, captivating and pointing the audience to the benefits of family planning.
Adetioye also said that such messages should take into cognisance the knowledge, beliefs and emotions of the target audience, adding that it must address an issue at a time.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the training featured practical group work where participants were able to develop Family Planning messages for the various target audience. (NAN)
