Family Planning & Reproductive Health
Some 200 million women in developing countries have an unmet need for effective and available family planning services. Meeting this need would prevent 23 million unplanned or unwanted pregnancies per year. Up to 25% of maternal deaths in the world, and as many as 1.4 million infant deaths, would also be prevented. Women—including adolescent girls—need access to high-quality reproductive health services, including access to family planning, in order to better plan the number and spacing of their children. This has proven benefits for the mother (reducing anemia during pregnancy and overall mortality), for the newborn (decreasing risk of preterm birth and early death) and for the family (improved nutrition and health for older children). (Source: UNFPA)
Paying special attention to the needs of more vulnerable groups, including adolescents and women with HIV/AIDS, IntraHealth is a leader in improving reproductive health for all women, including access to quality family planning services. We currently incorporate this expertise into projects in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, Southern Sudan and India.
Our key approaches include:
- Integrating family planning with other key services, including prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV
- Strengthening the performance of health care providers to improve the accessibility and quality of services
- Task shifting among health workers, supported by policy, to increase access to services
- Developing curricula and learning methodologies to strengthen education and training in family planning and reproductive health
- Linking public- and faith-based health facilities to increase access to modern methods of contraception
- Creating adolescent-friendly services in reproductive health clinical settings.