The Federal Government has expressed concern over the increase in population and has called on couples to imbibe child spacing methods to control it.

The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, said this in Abuja, during the public presentation of Expanded Social Marketing Project estimated at $56.3m and a new brand of low dose oral contraceptive known as Combination 3.

The ESMPIN and the child spacing contraceptive are initiatives of a Non-Governmental Organisation, Society for Family Health.

Chukwu said, “Family planning is something I support because we need to space our children, support safe motherhood and we need to care for our children.

“Recently it was reported that Nigeria is the 6th most populated country in the world and there is an opportunity to produce a youthful population if we put certain things in place.”

The Minister also expressed the Federal Government’s appreciation to President Barack Obama of the United States for what the US has been doing to improve the health sector in Nigeria.

He said, “Our average national mortality rate is 545. You don’t need to be a prophet to realise that over 500 women do not live to see their children and it is so bad.

“But what encourages us is that people are making efforts to tackle the problem. The maternal mortality rate projection for 2011 is 487 women. But national averages are quite deceitful because you will discover that some states are hitting 1, 000 deaths.”

In his comments at the event, the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Terrence McCulley, said his country was committed to assisting the FG in the promotion of better health practices in Nigeria.

The Envoy said, “The aim of this project is to improve the health of women and children in Nigeria. This will be achieved by increasing the use and accessibility of child spacing methods and child health care products and services.”

PUNCH NEWSPAPER