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The Ogun State Government has taken a major step toward strengthening reproductive health financing with the launch and dissemination of the State Family Planning, FP, Finance Tracker, aimed at improving transparency, accountability and sustainability of family planning funding in the State.
The exercise which took place at a one-day stakeholders’ meeting, organised by the Ogun State Primary Health Care Development Board in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), brought together key stakeholders from Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies; development partners; civil society organisations (CSOs); the media and other relevant actors in the reproductive health sector.
Speaking at the meeting, Commissioner for Health, Tomi Coker, described the FP Finance Tracker as a strategic tool designed to provide clear and evidence-based insights into family planning financing in Ogun State.
According to her, the tracker would document budget allocations, fund releases, actual expenditures and existing funding gaps in the family planning programme, thereby enabling better-informed planning and policy decisions.
She further explained that the primary purpose of the dissemination was to present and validate the findings from the Ogun State FP Finance Tracker, while also enhancing stakeholders’ understanding of how family planning funds flow within the state’s health system.
In his goodwill message, a representative of UNFPA, Dr. Akinkunmi Akinbajo, emphasised that sustainable domestic financing remained critical to ensuring uninterrupted access to family planning services, particularly for women, adolescents and underserved populations.
He also noted that while donor support had been instrumental, states must, however, increasingly take ownership of financing reproductive health programmes to guarantee long-term impact.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Executive Secretary, Ogun State Primary Healthcare Development Board, Dr Elijah Ogunsola, said that the forum was designed to stimulate robust multi-stakeholder dialogue on the sustainability of family planning financing and to identify priority actions needed to strengthen FP budget performance in the State.
Dr Ogunsola said that the FP Finance Tracker was not just a report but a decision-making tool which would promote transparency where low resources were allocated and utilised, noting further that, it would strengthen accountability and support government and partners to identify gaps and opportunities for improved financing of family planning services.
