By Eberechi Obinagwam
The United Nations Population Fund has partnered with Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare together with Microsoft to explore the realistically developed technologically innovations to access and increase demand to family planning in Nigeria.
The event which was held on Tuesday at Microsoft Office King Towers, Ikoyi Lagos with the theme:”Family Planning Hackanthon” saw fourteen innovative ideas to access family planning in Nigeria.
Gender and Reproductive health analyst, UNFPA, Esther Somefun, said as an organisation, they are employing technology and innovations to ensure that Nigerians have something sustainable that reaches the targeted population or beneficiaries that they are designing it for.
She said: ” Hackanthon is one of the means which we are contributing as our series of pre-submit and pre- engagement activities hosted by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and United Nations Population Fund to ensuring Nigeria is able to reach our family planning target as a nation and apart from this Hackathon we have a renovation spot light which is also contributing to pulling up ideas and showcasing what works in addressing family planning challenges within the country.”
She said they are pulling from home grown resources, not looking for the global nuts, “We are looking for things we have designed from our own experiences and things we have seen worked. We have a kind of ideas and adaptation of what can work in our society,” she said.
The Health Analyst, Somefun said that they seek to achieve three transformation results, which are; ending of ethnic for family planning, ending unwanted pregnancy, and ending all forms of violence in Africa with traditional practise.
She disclosed that in Nigeria, they have been able to meet the reproductive intentions of 19 per cent of married women reportedly not wanting to have anymore children or get child born.
“Over 500 hundred women die by one hundred thousand live worth. No woman deserves to die because she wants to give birth by another living being.
“Access to family planning, information and services is critical and vital as case studies have shown that 3.5m pregnancies could be avoided and more than 31.000 women saved from dying, if all women were able to plan their pregnancies and birth through modern family planning,” she said.
She explained that health economics equally estimate that if investments of at least over six hundred and three billion is put into family planning to ensure that they reach their target, that by next years, many women will not die.
“To reach our target, even when we have funding, UNFPA has identified a 6 by 6 framework which identifies technology and innovation as a catalyst and as accelerator to reducing maternal mortality and also within our means of family planning,” she said.
Also, Innovation Team Lead, African Development Center (ADC), Microsoft Engineering Team, Nkem Nweke, who encounraged everyone to share their ideas and keep on working on their ideas, said, Africa is the 7th engineering team in the world and AI being the latest technologies in the world, Microsoft wants to build something bold regardless of size, something inclusive, grounded in trust.
“We want to build an AI solutions that provides, helps or solve most problems in the world such as access to modern family planning and a product that is excuted at skill like Open AI which is changing the world with 2.5 ushers today,”
He disclosed that Microsoft invested 10b dollars in Open AI and they look for local ideas that will have global impact.
