By ABUJAH RACHEAL

Nigeria Health Watch has sounded the alarm over an impending reproductive health crisis.

This following a staggering 97 per cent slash in federal funding for family planning services, from N2.2 billion in 2024 to a mere N66 million in 2025.

Mrs Vivianne Ihekweazu, Managing Director of Nigeria Health Watch, said this on Thursday in Abuja.

Ihekweazu spoke at a high-level policy dialogue with the theme “Closing Reproductive Health Impact Gaps – Strategic Approaches for Equity and Access”.

While delivering the welcome address, she said that the country’s health system was failing millions of Nigerians, particularly women, adolescents and underserved populations.

“Nigeria’s story on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) is complex.

“Despite policy frameworks and global commitments, access to basic services like contraception, maternal care and sexual health education remains limited and underfunded,” she said.

She cited the latest 2023–2024 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS).

The survey shows the modern contraceptive prevalence rate (mCPR) at 15.3 per cent with unmet need for family planning still high at 21 per cent among women aged 15–49.

“These are not just numbers, they reflect lives at risk,” she said.

With Nigeria projected to hit a population of 377 million by 2050, she stressed the urgent need to frame SRHR as both a health and economic issue.

“This is not only about maternal deaths or teenage pregnancies. It is about national productivity, stability, and the kind of future we want to build.

“Without resources, policies will remain promises, and without commodities, millions of Nigerians, especially the poor and young, will continue to be left behind, ” she said.

Ihekweazu also highlighted the role of the private sector in bridging gaps.

According to her, while public systems remain overstretched, community pharmacies, digital platforms, and private health providers are already filling critical service gaps.

“We must stop pretending that we do not know what the issues are; low funding, weak political will, poor integration, and stockouts. The crisis is already here,” she said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the dialogue brought together federal and state health officials, civil society, donors, youth advocates and private sector actors.

Together, they explored bottlenecks to adolescent contraceptive access, regional disparities in service delivery and scalable strategies to close the gaps. (NAN)