By Emiene Erameh, Allwomen Media

Stakeholders rose from the 8th Nigerian Youth Family Planning Pre-Conference with a resolve to create safe spaces for young people to dialogue on their sexual and reproductive health and rights, and brainstorm solutions with their peers and other key stakeholders.
Various presentations and panels at the youth pre-conference which was held in Abuja, focused on how youth can take up leadership positions to become more active in championing Family Planning (FP) services and programs in Nigeria.

With a population of over 200 million according to statista, over 70 percent of the Nigerian population is made up of young people and this perhaps is what informed Dr. John Ovuaye who represented the Federal Ministry of Health, revealing that the adolescent branch of the ministry is working in collaboration with young voices to explore broad avenues for demand creation of FP commodities.

Kellie Wellborn, ICFP Chair, in her remarks, noted that young people are not just the future but also the present, stressing that it is important for them to speak up about their needs and called on them to submit abstracts sharing their research or an advocacy strategy that has driven policy change in their respective communities.

While progress has been made, according to recent data, Jason Bremmer, Director Data & Measurements FP2030 explained that the recent data shows that although the modern contraceptive prevalence rate (mPCR) of women aged 15-49 has increased, there is still a significant difference between the types of contraceptives married women use versus unmarried sexually active adolescents and youth.

The young people on their part at the pre-conference, called for the expansion of access to Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services for rural communities against the background of women living in rural communities experiencing increased pressures to get married early and have children.

Stay tuned for more community-driven, community-inspired reporting from the 8th Nigerian Family Planning Conference, taking place December 3–6, 2024.