A 2 day national consultative conference on family planning programming in Nigeria was held in December. The conference was hosted by the Nigeria Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), to review the family planning outlook in Nigeria, and to develop strategies to meet the targeted 36% Contraceptive Prevalence Rate set by the FMOH, by 2018. The Honorable Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole Folorunsho said the Federal Government is committed to the provision of unhindered access to family planning commodities and supplies. While the wife of the president, H.E Mrs. Aisha Buhari (represented). said stakeholders present must work together to fill the 22% gap in unmet need for family planning services and develop new ways to encourage behavior change in childbirth spacing.

The forum was attended by key stakeholders including State Commissioners of Health, State Permanent Secretaries, the State Directors of Public Health and FP Coordinators from the 36 States of the federation. The participation was broad based and also had in attendance, religious leaders, NGOs, CSOs and Foreign Missions.