Rivers
RSPHCMB Encourages Use Of Contraceptives
In celebration of this year’s World Contraception Day, the Rivers State Primary Healthcare Management Board (RSPHCMB) has charged women and couples of child bearing age to embrace the use of contraceptives to help them in planning their lives.
The Director, Community Health Services, RSPHCMB, Dr Joy Wihioka, gave this charge at a briefing to mark this year’s World Contraception Day, celebrated September 26 annually.
She noted that the idea of family planning was to “create an environment where every pregnancy is desired and wanted, and women live to nurture their children after childbirth”.
Wihioka also said the use of contraceptive has been proven to have “positive outcomes in reducing 44% maternal deaths, number of high risk and unwanted pregnancies, as well as preventing unsafe abortions”, which” she observed, was the leading cause of deaths among females.
According to her, “contraceptive use has been found to have important positive implications for maternal health, as well as adolescent health too.
“This is because the intervention helps avert approximately 44% of maternal deaths around the world by reducing the number of high-risk and unwanted pregnancies among citizens, thereby also preventing unsafe abortions which is a leading cause of death among females”.
Speaking on the theme for this year, “Breaking Myths”, Wihioka noted that contrary to beliefs that contraception was inimical to health, it was beneficial.
“It allows women to establish healthy birth-spacing practices whilst their bodies heal in between births: allows women an increased participation in the economic workforce; allows women to invest in themselves and their families, supporting the men to raise household income, especially in these slightly more difficult economic times”, she said.
She continued that the difficulty some women experience when they first up-take a family planning method is common.
She explained further that the methods involve introducing foreign bodies into the body, and the body of a healthy individual is expected to first reject it before acclimatising to it, adding that women should not be alarmed when faced with such inconveniences.
She advised that such women should go back to the health care centre where the service provider would adequately address the challenge.
“It is important for the woman or couple seeking to uptake a family planning method to first be counselled and tested at the primary healthcare facility”, she said.
Wihioka noted that since the establishment of RPHCMB in 2011, the Board had lived up to its mandate “to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate all Primary Health Care programmes and activities in Rivers State.
“It has also embarked on high impact interventions such as Reproductive Health/Family Planning to improve health outcomes for women and girls in the State.
“As we celebrate this year’s World Contraception Day with the theme, ‘Breaking Myths’, we join the global movement in celebrating every significant progress made in improving the health of women and girls by allowing them to decide and space their pregnancies.
“I encourage us as fellow citizens to take the COVID-19 vaccine and for couples who need FP services to visit any Primary Health Center near them, request and access routine family planning counseling and contraceptive services.
“Family planning methods remain safe and effective: there is a method that suits each Woman personally”, she concluded.
By: Tonye Nria-Dappa
The Rivers State Primary Healthcare Management Board (RSPHCMB) says it will commence Supplemental Immunization activities on Saturday, May 3, 2025, to vaccinate children from 0-5 years across the State.
The State Health Educator, Dr. Diana Babbo, who stated this during a sensitisation meeting with Media Advocate for Health, Rivers State, on the update of immunization exercise in Rivers State, said the National Immunization Plus Days (NIPDs) is a re-enforcement of the routine immunization at the health facilities.
According to her, it is aimed at boosting polio immunisation against the circulating variance of polio virus currently threatening the total eradication of polio in the country.
She further stated that there are four pillars of polio eradication, namely routine immunization (administered on babies in the health centre), supplemental immunization activity (supplements to boost the babies), surveillance (searching for children that have weakness in their legs or some oart of their bodies), and outbreak response.
The Health Educator noted that the Novel Oral Polio Vaccination Type 2 (NOPV 2) will be administered to children under the age of 0-5 years, which targets a specific polio still in existence in communities and capable of causing paralysis among the stated categories of children, despite the country being certified a polio-free nation.
Dr. Babbo further stated that this year’s NIPDs will address the high number of unresolved non-compliance cases in the State.
She debunked what she tagged a false rumour by mischief makers which claimed that the vaccines are responsible for the development of autism in children.
She said, “vaccines are not known to be responsible for the development of autism. We’re just hearing that. The truth is that one cannot know everything.
“That aspect that has been found, have we looked into other aspects, such as genetically modified foods, drinks, and milks that our children are taking?
“Have we also looked at genetic compatibility between couples before we now say vaccines are causing x, y, z things?
“Are we looking at the environment where these things are happening, what they are peculiar to?
“It must not be peculiar to all the families, there could be something also that’s happening around that we have not known. Research is evolving, let us not accuse our precious vaccines that have succeeded so far in my knowledge, to keep as many sicknesses at bay.
“The reason we do not have small pox in our world today, apart from the lab (a bio-lab) is because we vaccinated to the point where we were able to move small pox totally out of existence from human beings. We can succeed with that same pattern with all kinds of viruses”.
She stated that the connection between autism and vaccination could merely be coincidence.
Babbo, therefore, urged all parents, churches, and school owners to avail their children/wards the opportunity to be vaccinated against polio the stated exercise.
Sogbeba Dokubo
Engr Obi Fortune, a renowned philanthropist, has donated 80 desks to four secondary schools in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State. The donation is part of his commitment to advancing education in the area.
The schools that benefited from the gesture includes- Community Secondary School Umuoye.
Community Secondary School Akwa- Government Secondary School Ozuzu and Community Primary School Okehi 2 and all the schools got 20 units each of the desks.
Speaking during the brief handing-over ceremony held recently in okehi recently, Engr Obi stated that the donation fulfills his promise to use proceeds from his book sales to procure desks for schools in the LGA.
He disclosed that more desks will arrive soon and expressed his continued commitment to supporting education in the area.
Obi urged the schools to make good use of the desks and called on other individuals to contribute to the educational needs in the area.
This gesture demonstrates Engr Obi’s dedication to improving education in Etche LGA.
A professor of social and political philosophy at Rivers State University (RSU ) Nkpolu Oroworukwu port Harcourt, Prof Agha Eresia _Eke has emphasized that citizenship participation is crucial for achieving true democratic government. He stressed that citizens’ involvement in exercising their basic rights, such as freedom of speech, assembly, and religion, is essential for a democratic institution to thrive.
Eresia _Eke stated this while presenting his inaugural lecture at the 111 university’s inaugural lecture series with the topic “Nigeria Democratic practices:a contextual paradox”held at the university senate auditorium in Port Harcourt, last Wednesday.
According to him, core democratic values which include:,- Respect for individual rights and freedoms, Protection of human rights and fundamental freedom, Equality before the law, Freedom of speech, assembly, and association, Protection of privacy and personal autonomy.
“Through out history, the problem that has agitated social and political philosophers has been to work _out a model for the realization of the common good of man.
Man has always sought and developed methods and systems of organising himself according to his true nature as a rational being.”he stated.
Eresia-Eke notes that Nigeria is not practicing a true federalism and highlights the importance of a pragmatic approach to democracy, where ideas and solutions are tested and refined in real-world environments.
He emphasized that citizens must hold their leaders accountable and demand respect for human rights, stressing that by doing so, citizens can undertake their civic obligations and responsibilities, strengthening society as a whole.
Earlier in his address, the Vice chancellor of the university, Prof Zeb _Obipi commended the lecturer for his brilliant performance, adding that he has justified and proven that he is a professor in his area of specialization.
The VC averred that the university has been consistent in the inaugural lecture monthly and assured that his administration will continue to continue to keep the trend.