Nigeria’s National Guideline on Self-Care to Improve Sexual, Reproductive, and Maternal Health

To ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health services in Nigeria, the Subcutaneous DMPA Access Collaborative has partnered with the Federal Ministry of Health to launch a national guideline on self-care.

The guideline can help people live a healthier life, with or without the help of a health care provider. Other interested parties have been called to join the self-care journey, with health care workers being trained to understand, practice, and improve demand for self-care at the community level. Nigeria was the first country to adopt and implement the WHO self-care guideline, and over the past year, JSI, along with partners like Pathfinder International, WHO, and the White Ribbon Alliance Nigeria, have engaged 14 states to advocate for its implementation.

“This is yet another milestone for us to see self-care launched and witnessed by various stakeholders, especially with state stakeholders who will be the implementers of the guideline,” said Dr. Adewole Adefalu, country coordinator of Access Collaborative.

“As long as there is political will and availability of self-care products like depot medroxyprogesterone acetate subcutaneous, malaria, and HIV self-test kits as well as pregnancy self-testing kits, we will see people begin to take ownership, positioning them to enjoy the benefit of self-awareness.”

At a time when Nigeria’s health resources are scarce, the guideline is convenient for more than individuals. It will also help reduce government health care spending and contribute to efforts to achieve universal health coverage through community-level outreach.

Through the Access Collaborative, JSI is helping to expand contraceptive access and options. Since 2017, the Access Collaborative has supported more than 20 countries to introduce and scale-up DMPA-SC and provided technical assistance for its integration. Learn more here.