Two of Nigeria’s most popular pop stars have come together to record a song about family planning. “Get It Together”, featuring Paul ‘P Square’ Okoye and Tiwa Savage, encourages listeners to become “the people wey sabi” (or “cool people”) who know about the importance of planning and spacing pregnancy. The Get It Together campaign, part of the Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI), features a multi-platform social media component (#GetItTogetherng), regional skits, and regional campaign ambassadors.

Nigeria has some of the lowest family planning rates in the world, with only 10% of married women reporting use of a modern contraceptive method (NDHS, 2013). Previous NURHI program activities have shown a positive and significant impact in use of modern family planning methods. During NURHI’s first four years (2010-2014), there was an average contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) increase of 10.9 percentage points across the six cities. This newest release seeks to build on this success. Get It Together speaks to Nigerians of all gender and ages, promoting discussion of the importance of family planning and its benefits.

As Dr Mojisola Odeku, NURHI’s Project Director said, “We call on the public to listen to the song, pass it on and spread the message to Get It Together: Know the facts, Talk to your partner, Go for family planning”.

The highly celebrated Nigeria music industry and its popular artists are a proven channel for passing on and reinforcing family planning messages to the public and influencing people’s behavior. With the involvement of two of Nigeria’s most popular recording artists, “Get It Together” has already reached more than 225,000 views on YouTube – all within the two-week period following its release.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health initiative project (NURHI) is a consortium led by CCP. The other core partners are the Center for Communication Programs Nigeria (CCPN) (who led this song initiative) and the Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH). With the goal of increasing the contraceptive prevalence rate in selected states in Nigeria, NURHI envisions a Nigeria where supply and demand barriers to contraceptive use are eliminated and family planning becomes a social norm. NURHI is creating demand for modern family planning methods through innovative, consumer first campaigns and activities responding to the contraceptive needs of Nigerians.

Read more about the NURHI Get It Together campaign and its impact on CCP Nigeria’s site.