As Nigeria and indeed the world battles the spread of the novel COVID-19, we at Marie Stopes International Organisation Nigeria (MSION) have continued to deliver on our mandate to provide Nigerian women and men with quality sexual and reproductive health information and services.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, resilient Marie Stopes Nigeria team members spread across the country are still working collaboratively with governments at all levels to continue provision of family planning and other reproductive healthcare services.
We have sustained service provision in over 2000 Primary Healthcare facilities and over 550 Private Healthcare facilities. Our 23 Mobile Outreach teams still visit communities and work with government facilities to support service provision as well as increase awareness of COVID-19 precautionary measures among clients and communities in their localities.
Marie Stopes Clinics in Lagos, Abuja and Benin currently deliver our services right at the doorsteps of our clients. We launched a home delivery service for clients who cannot get to our Clinics as a result of the lockdown; as well as vehicle pick-up and drop off services for facility-based services.
At Marie Stopes Nigeria, we recognise that the COVID-19 pandemic will not stop the women and girls that we serve from requiring sexual and reproductive health services. The lockdown could mean increased risk of unintended pregnancies and other sexual health challenges for women and men. Therefore, access to contraceptives and other sexual and reproductive health services are essential and should not be ignored at this time.
In a related development, our Country Director, Effiom Nyong Effiom has appreciated the MSION team for demonstrating passion and commitment to work throughout this COVID-19 pandemic period.
In a message to team members, Effiom said “Dear Team, your passion, courage and commitment keep me optimistic and energizes my faith, that regardless of what the times and seasons bring, we will continue to deliver on our commitment to Nigerian women, men and all our stakeholders spread across the globe… I thank you for staying true, through these trying times.”
He assured team members of management’s commitment to their personal safety and protection and charged them to follow all safety advice for their channels of service delivery equally.
Effiom equally reiterated Marie Stopes Nigeria’s unwavering commitment to empower Nigerians to have Children by Choice and not Chance, through providing life-changing reproductive health and family planning services.
