The Kwara State House of Assembly has promised support for safe family planning and child-spacing.

It said family planning and child spacing projects would be given priority in the next budget.

Its Speaker, Razak Atunwa, gave the pledge while hosting members of Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI) in his office.

Atunwa added that government's intention under the Vision 20: 2020 may not be achieved without due considerations for family planning and child-spacing.

He promised to urge members of the assembly's Committee on Finance and Appropriation to liaise with relevant agencies in ensuring the inclusion of the two issues in subsequent budgets in the state.

The speaker noted that available statistics on maternal health, reveal that only one in five pregnancies in Nigeria is unwanted, adding that it is also alarming that about 529,000 women die from pregnancy-related cases in the country and appealed to members of NUHRI to go into the rural areas ensure that the people at the grassroots benefit from the organisation's programmes.

Earlier, the state's ex-permanent secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Funmilayo Ambali, who represented NUHRI's chairman during the visit, expressed grave concern over the prevalence of maternal mortality and morbidity in the country and appealed to stakeholders to support the call for sound health for mothers and a well-planned family life.