New data show a 6.4-point increase in contraceptive use among married women age 15-49 in Kano State, Nigeria – from 0.6% to 7.0% – in just three years since the last Demographic and Health Survey in 2013. The findings from these new family planning data were announced at a state-level dissemination in Kano earlier this week by Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020 (PMA2020), a smartphone-based survey funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and implemented by Johns Hopkins University. The PMA2020 survey also detected a 33.6% point increase in demand for family planning (11.7% to 45.3% from 2013 to 2016), as well as a 27.2% point rise in unmet need for family planning (38.3% in 2016) among married women. The results dissemination event was held on Tuesday, October 11, in the presence of the Emir of Kano State Muhammadu Sanusi and the State Commissioner of Health Dr. Kabiru Ibrahim. Both leaders promised to use this evidence in improving the state’s programs and policies around family planning. The Emir noted the wealth of statistics presented, committing to examine them critically in order to come up with strategies to address family planning in Kano State, where progress seems to be improving rapidly yet much demand and need left to be met.
PMA2020 uses innovative mobile technology to support low-cost, rapid-turnaround surveys monitoring key indicators for family planning, water, sanitation and hygiene and other health and development indicators. The PMA2016/Kano Round 1 survey is implemented by the Centre for Research, Evaluation Resources and Development (CRERD) and Bayero University Kano (BUK), and endorsed and supported by the Federal Ministry of Health, the National Population Commission, the National Bureau of Statistics, and the State Ministry of Health. Overall direction and support is provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. PMA2020 is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.