Youth Engagement

75th World Health Assembly

kseaton — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 13:37:36 +0000

75th World Health Assembly kseaton April 21, 2022

May 22, 2022 - May 28, 2022

IntraHealth International is joining colleagues from around the world at the 75th World Health Assembly. As an organization in official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO), we'll be there advocating for the health workforce and highlighting their role in ending this pandemic—and preventing the next.

https://www.who.int/about/governance/world-health-assembly

Our Participation

Pre-Assembly Events

Informal WHA75 pre-meeting for Member States, non-State actors in official relations and the Secretariat

Date(s):	April 21, 2022 09:30am EDT
Location:	<a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2022/04/11/default-calendar/informal-wha75-pre-meeting-for-member-states--non-state-actors-in-official-relations-and-the-secretariat-during-11-april-to-6-may-2022"> <b>Watch the recording here</b></a>.
Presenter(s):	Janet Muriuki

Side Events

SwitchPoint Future League Virtual Exchange

Date(s):	May 26, 2022 09:00am EDT
More Information:	The SwitchPoint Future League will host an inclusive and interactive event highlighting what they have learned and what they are working toward. Throughout the year, they are sending in transmissions that dig into pressing health issues through interviews with their peers, policy leaders, children, artists, and other advocates and are making a creative and powerful stand for the healthy future we all hope for. The program will feature transmissions, interviews, special performances, and a high-level panel about the health challenges we're facing today and their solutions.
Location:	<a href="https://event.switchpointideas.com/switchpoint-future-league-virtual-exchange"> <b>Register here</b></a>.
Presenter(s):	Polly Dunford, Janet Muriuki, Samson Radeny

From Resolution to Action: Investing in the Health and Care Workforce

Date(s):	May 27, 2022 06:00pm CEST (12:00pm EDT)
More Information:	The 75th World Health Assembly will include the Director-General’s report and a proposed resolution, tabled by Croatia and Ethiopia, to adopt the Working for Health Action Plan (2022-2030). Now is the time to set this important agenda in motion, and engage Member States, partners, and regional and global health workforce initiatives on the coordinated actions that are needed to protect, safeguard, and invest in the health and care workforce. Join us in person for a critical discussion on next steps, followed by refreshments. <a href="https://bit.ly/37ZQGcq"> <b>Register here</b></a>.
Location:	Intercontinental Hotel, Geneva, Switzerland

Panel Discussions

WHA75 Strategic Roundtable – Radical reorientation of health systems towards primary health care as the foundation of universal health coverage: The best and only choice to achieve universal health coverage

Date(s):	May 25, 2022 01:00pm CEST (07:00am EDT)
More Information:	The COVID pandemic has exposed the limitations of most health systems. In response to the crisis, a WHO position paper was released in October 2021, “Building health systems resilience towards UHC and health security during COVID-19 pandemic and beyond”. This paper insists on the importance of urgently and smartly investing in primary health care, the essential public health functions and health systems foundations across many countries. In this roundtable, we will hear why a radical reorientation of health systems toward primary health care is crucial. We will hear first-hand reflections from two countries and will learn from major international financial institutions, bilateral donors and nongovernmental organizations about how they can collectively support countries in reorienting their health systems towards primary health care.
Location:	The Palais de Nations in Geneva, Switzerland
Presenter(s):	Janet Muriuki

Participants

Polly Dunford

President and CEO

David Bryden

Senior advocacy & policy advisor

Janet Muriuki

Senior director of health workforce development

Samson Radeny

Chief of party, Ingobyi Project, Rwanda

Policy & Advocacy SwitchPoint World Health Assembly Youth Engagement Health Workers

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Where Are They Now? Guinea's Youth Ambassadors Continue to Promote Family Planning

kseaton — Wed, 06 Apr 2022 18:15:05 +0000

Where Are They Now? Guinea's Youth Ambassadors Continue to Promote Family Planning kseaton April 06, 2022

April 06, 2022

How CS4FP led to a sustainable youth leadership program in Guinea.

When Abou Maimouna Diallo was a teenager, he didn’t have much information about sex. He had never talked about it with his parents or learned about it in school. After his girlfriend became pregnant, he knew he had to educate himself.

“I decided to commit myself to the promotion of information on sexual and reproductive health and family planning,” he says. “To make sure I didn’t repeat the same mistakes, but also to help other young people.”

So in 2016, he became a youth ambassador with IntraHealth International’s Civil Society for Family Planning project (CS4FP). The goal of the project, which began over a decade ago, was to help the government and civil society organizations work with young people to promote the benefits of family planning in the region. And sustainability was key.

“I feel really proud of my work. The young ambassadors have become essential."

Now, a year after the project officially ended in Guinea, youth ambassadors for family planning are thriving, and it looks like their approach to advocacy is here to stay.

“We want young people to be in all regions and prefectures of the country,” Abou says. “We plan to mobilize and train 500 young people across the country who will become young ambassadors.”

The National Coalition of Civil Society Organizations in Family Planning in Guinea was born from CS4FP and supports 40 youth ambassadors in Guinea through their coalition. Consisting of 20 member organizations, the coalition partners with the Ministries of Health and Education to decentralize family planning and other health-related services. While their members span many regions of Guinea, their aim is to establish regional coalitions in the seven regions of the country.

They’re well on their way to achieving that goal. They support 17 clinics, ten of which are specifically focused on youth, and they focus on training coalition members on ethics, communication, and advocacy, as well as helping the government develop the most recent budgeted national action plan for family planning and curriculum on comprehensive sexual education.

“Guinea has, thanks to the coalition, a national program and a roadmap for comprehensive sexual education which constitutes support for all parliamentarians in the country as well as for the government and its technical and financial partners,” says Dr. Bintou Bamba, the president of the coalition.

They also focus on supporting and training young ambassadors, who talk to members of their community about the importance of family planning. The young ambassadors work with the National Coalition of Civil Society Organizations in Family Planning to organize campaigns (such as pregnancy-free Valentine’s Day and pregnancy-free summer vacation), network on digital platforms, and train other young ambassadors.

“As young ambassadors, we use door-to-door outreach, educational talks, and digital tools to inform and sensitize young people about sexual and reproductive health rights and family planning,” Abou says. “It is clear that many young people find themselves on social networks and are looking for information about family planning, which is why it’s important to talk about it there.”

The coalition’s efforts to remain sustainable after the end of the CS4FP project have not come without their challenges. On September 5, 2021, Guinea’s president was captured in a coup d’etat, which has stalled the integration and revision of the curriculum for comprehensive sexual education. Additionally, social factors still largely prohibit conversations about sex.

“People are reluctant to use contraceptive methods because of the weight of culture and religion, misinformation, or prejudice about the disadvantages of contraceptive products, and their high cost,” Abou says. “There is also a lack of user-friendly centers adapted to the needs of adolescents and young people in the country.”

But Abou and his fellow young ambassadors are chipping away at those cultural norms and providing more opportunities for conversations about family planning and sexual health. Alongside their door-to-door outreach and informational campaigns, they have been working with the Ministry of Health’s National Directorate of Family Health and Nutrition to help develop the Directorate’s political, programmatic, and strategic documents. And they are often invited to radio and TV programs to speak about their work.

“I feel really proud of my work,” Abou says. “The young ambassadors have become essential. We’re contacted all day long by young people with questions about sexual and reproductive health and family planning. I have a sense of self-pride and I hope that in five years, family planning will be available and accessible everywhere and for everyone.”

CS4FP was led by IntraHealth International and funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Dutch Embassy.

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By Jen Snell

Former senior technical manager

By Katherine Seaton

Former communications manager

Civil Society for Family Planning Family Planning & Reproductive Health Youth Engagement Guinea

Is In The Media

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The SwitchPoint Future League

kmelton — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 15:36:44 +0000

The SwitchPoint Future League kmelton March 10, 2022

Meet the SwitchPoint Future League. Six young people from six African countries who are leading their generation toward stronger health financing, better policies, and a healthier future.

These young leaders are champions for transparent, effective financing for health services. They are carving a new, clearer path toward health services for all.

Their goals: Stronger global health security. An end to the COVID-19 pandemic. Better, more widely available services for HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis. Financing for the health workforce of the future, including fair pay for all health workers and an end to the volunteer model in community health care.

The SwitchPoint Future League is a partnership with IntraHealth International, The Global Fund, and One Campaign Africa.

Future League Members

	Cill Soul Musician
	Zipporah Iregi Nurse
	Frank Mugisha Dancer
	Yared Negash Economist
	Frankline Sevidzem Wirsiy Consultant
	Debora Duwa Mtambalika Drone pilot

Watch the SwitchPoint Future League Virtual Exchange

SwitchPoint Future League Unites Six Next-Generation African Leaders for New Advocacy Partnership

kseaton — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 20:25:08 +0000

SwitchPoint Future League Unites Six Next-Generation African Leaders for New Advocacy Partnership kseaton March 03, 2022 March 07, 2022

Six young African leaders have joined the inaugural cohort of the SwitchPoint Future League, a new advocacy partnership launched by IntraHealth International with the Global Fund and ONE Campaign Africa.

"IntraHealth is thrilled to join these six outstanding young leaders in elevating the conversation about the future of global health—and how we finance it,” says Polly Dunford, president and CEO of IntraHealth. “Their voices and perspectives are essential to creating a world where everyone everywhere has access to the health care they need to thrive."

The Future League consists of young experts in diverse industries, each representing a different African country. Members receive guidance, mentoring, tools, and platforms for amplifying health financing messages through social media, in the press, and at a SwitchPoint Exchange event they will curate and host to coincide with the World Health Assembly in May.

“The Global Fund understands the power of young people—the future is theirs,” says Shu Shu Tekle-Haimanot, senior advisor for political advocacy and partnerships, resource mobilization at the Global Fund. “We want to hear youth voices and make sure their ideas, questions and solutions are represented in global forums and taken into account in global health policy making. These future leaders can help ensure that their governments, peers, and communities prioritize health financing for the well-being of all people.”

The program is designed to train and mentor a new generation of youth advocates to champion health financing in Africa. It pairs Future League members with health leaders, government representatives, parliamentarians and academia in their countries, as well as local technologists, artists, and activists working on health topics related to their areas of expertise. Through these partnerships, members will attend and report on high-level meetings, interview other African leaders, represent youth voices at international fora, and share what they learn about health policy, planning, financing, and strategy with their social networks in their countries.

“The ONE Campaign Africa is inspired to see a group of young people taking the lead and meaningfully participate in the conversations about planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating Africa’s health systems,” says Edwin Ikhuoria, executive director of ONE Africa. “Our ideal for the future is to see governments allocating adequate financing for the continents’ health care systems and making it accessible for its people to lead healthy and productive lives. We hope to see more youths participate in the program in the future and curate messaging that will start important conversations and hold governments accountable for their decisions.”

Meet the 2022 SwitchPoint Future League:

Debora Duwa Mtambalika

Debora Duwa Mtambalika (@DeboraMtambali2) is a Malawian drone pilot and local project manager for Wingcopter, a German drone company. She works on the Drone and Data Aid Project, which helps strengthen health supply chain systems in Malawi in hard-to-reach health facilities by shortening delivery of emergency medicines, lab samples, and vaccines from weeks and months to less than 30 minutes.

Debora is determined to utilize drone technologies to sustain health and well-being for the people of Malawi.

Zipporah Iregi

Zipporah Iregi (@ZipporahIregi) is a challenger in the Nursing Now Challenge Committee and a board member of the Royal Youth Mentorship Program in Kenya. Following her passion for nursing leadership and mentorship, she served as the first vice chairperson for Kenya Students and Novice Nurses (KESNNUR), a chapter under the National Nurses Association of Kenya, where she coordinated mentorship, leadership training, and professional development programs for young nurses in Kenya.

Zipporah is passionate about the development of her community.

Frank Mugisha

Frank Mugisha (@mugisha_frank_) is a Rwandan-Ugandan multidisciplinary artist working in East Africa and beyond and founder and artistic director of the Instinctual Arts Company based in Kigali, Rwanda.

He has trained in contemporary dance, breakdance, and African traditional dances, which he fuses to create a unique artistic identity. As a creative facilitator, filmmaker, educator, and performer, Mugisha uses his art as a tool for self-expression and vehicle for social change.

Frank is focused on the continuous unlearning of all he's been taught as an African man that he feels belittles him and the ways of his people—and he constantly seeks to reinvent and remember new and ancient ways of being in balance with self, others, and his surroundings.

Yared Negash

Yared Negash (@y_negash) is a junior health finance consultant at the Global Fund. He received his master’s degree in health economics at the University of York and studied increasing domestic health finance in Zimbabwe. Prior to earning his master's degree, he studied biomedical science at the University of Edinburgh.  

Yared is Dutch and Ethiopian by nationality and grew up in Zimbabwe, so he also considers himself an unofficial Zimbabwean. 

Cill Soul

Cill Soul (born Chioma Ogbonna) (@cillsoul) is a singer/songwriter and guitarist based in Lagos State, Nigeria. She loves telling stories using music. Soul is always connected to everything around her and her music comes from the different places she has been to in her mind.

Cill aims to take you on a journey one song at a time, making music of unique blends with splashes of her “African-ness.”

Frankline Sevidzem Wirsiy

Frankline Sevidzem Wirsiy (@dr_wirsiy) is a global health security consultant at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, and a Pfizer - One Young World ambassador. Previously, he was a proposal development consultant with IntraHealth International in Cameroon and an international consultant for the USAID-funded RHITES-E project implemented by IntraHealth in Uganda.

Frankline is passionate about networking and organizing measures to prevent disease and promote health to prolong life. His greatest philosophical paradigm is "service to humanity is the best work of life."

This initiative was born from a number of collaborations between IntraHealth and the Global Fund which focused on youth voices in global health and included a series of workshops and international gatherings around IntraHealth’s report The Future of Health Work in Africa: What Will it Look Like in 2040? and the subsequent international event SwitchPoint Virtual Exchange Who Pays?

Follow the Future League on the SwitchPoint website, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

For more information, please contact Heather LaGarde at hlagarde@intrahealth.org or Shu-Shu Tekle-Haimanot at Shu-Shu.Tekle-Haimanot@theglobalfund.org.

Policy & Advocacy Youth Engagement

TCI Next Gen Will Reach the Next Generation of Family Planning Users in West Africa

kseaton — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 15:01:16 +0000

TCI Next Gen Will Reach the Next Generation of Family Planning Users in West Africa kseaton January 06, 2022 January 07, 2022

Through a new award from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Bayer Foundation, IntraHealth International will begin a new phase of The Challenge Initiative (TCI) called TCI Next Gen.

IntraHealth has led the francophone West Africa hub of TCI since 2016, which has helped add over 350,000 new contraceptive users in 12 cities throughout francophone West Africa over the past five years. TCI is part of a consortium led by the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

In this next phase of the project (2021-2025),

IntraHealth will use the TCI model in urban areas in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, and Senegal to reach 350,000 additional family planning users and improve access to high-quality family planning services for 5.5 million women of reproductive age.

Receiving the TCI Next Gen funds to continue this work is a testament to the goals we’ve already achieved.

To achieve TCI’s vision of transforming healthier cities at scale, the francophone West Africa hub will work with local governments in 29 areas to rapidly scale up proven, high-impact family planning interventions. These will focus on adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health, program management, and generating demand for and delivering high-quality services. The hub will help strengthen political and technical leadership and manage and coordinate local health systems in specific cities. The team will pair this approach with community accountability mechanisms to increase sustainability and ownership of the program.

“I’m so proud that we’ve been able to make sure women and girls have access to family planning services and know their options when it comes to contraception,” says Hawa Talla, IntraHealth’s leader of TCI in West Africa. “Receiving the TCI Next Gen funds to continue this work is a testament to the goals we’ve already achieved.”

In partnership with municipalities and local health systems, the hub has expanded access to family planning by helping cities integrate high impact interventions such as universal referral and post-partum family planning while also working to make those services more youth-friendly.

To create demand for services, the hub works with local community-based radio stations and organizations, youth ambassadors, and religious leaders to promote the benefits of family planning, dispel myths and rumors about contraception, and encourage men to be involved in family planning decisions.

TCI has programs in 111 cities worldwide, with the potential to reach another 60 cities through 6 Hubs (East Africa, Francophone West Africa, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and the Philippines) with this new award. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health leads TCI.

TCI Next Gen is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Bayer Foundation.

Family Planning & Reproductive Health Youth Engagement Health Workers The Challenge Initiative Next Gen The Challenge Initiative

How to Connect Young Ugandans to Family Planning and HIV Services amid COVID-19 Lockdowns

kseaton — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 22:03:05 +0000

How to Connect Young Ugandans to Family Planning and HIV Services amid COVID-19 Lockdowns kseaton November 29, 2021

November 29, 2021

6 ways this team provides crucial health care to women and girls during a global pandemic.

In 2020 alone, 1 in 10 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 became mothers and 1 in 5 got married or entered into a civil union. In Uganda, COVID-19 related restrictions such as lockdowns and school closures led to pregnancies for over 90,000 girls under 18.

These statistics demonstrate how critical it is to help women of reproductive age make informed decisions regarding sexual relationships, contraceptive use, and reproductive health.

To do this, family planning services are key. IntraHealth International, through the USAID-funded Regional Health Integration to Enhance Services in Eastern Uganda (RHITES-E) project, works with the Uganda Ministry of Health to implement a comprehensive program in the eastern Uganda and Karamoja regions that offers clients services in family planning, HIV, and maternal, neonatal, and child health.

Here are six approaches the project uses during COVID-19 lockdowns to improve services for young women and girls:

1. Community youth-only dialogues

RHITES-E hosted 1,000+ young men and 1,400+ women in groups across five districts to talk about teenage pregnancy.

Our team identified and trained youth champions who now promote the use of a Ministry of Health toll-free line and the Uganda Child Helpline for online counseling services for adolescents and youth. And a new WhatsApp group promotes sexual and reproductive health discussions by creating a safe space for young people to share experiences and ideas about teenage pregnancies and sexual and other forms of gender-based violence.

2. Greater access to services

RHITES-E used the Stepping Stones model, which helps young people stay safe, engage in income-generating activities, remain HIV-negative, be assertive to prevent violence, and make use of available health services to empower and mobilize girls and young women from the Tororo, Butaleja, Mbale, and Amuria districts.

This model helped them access health services for family planning, sexually transmitted infections screening and treatment, antenatal care, HIV testing, and pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV. As a result, 2,760 women received family planning services. Clients were also screened for gender-based violence and 287 cases were identified and managed.

During COVID-19, there was no transport to and from the health center because of the restrictions.

3. Community mobile clinics

Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, RHITES-E used family planning mobile clinics in the Teso region to reach 189,335 clients through 47 integrated family planning mobile clinics—a 47% increase from the previous year.

“During COVID-19, there was no transport to and from the health center because of the restrictions,” says Tabitha Akwi, a 24-year-old mother of three. “I opted to walk to the health center for my family planning method. It is safe, convenient, and offers long-term protection against pregnancy especially now during the pandemic.”

4. Supply to meet demand

COVID-19 has disrupted the contraceptive supply chain. Limited production, distribution, and availability of contraceptives means that stockouts are common.

“I use injectables every three months but during the pandemic I found it difficult to access my injectables because of the restrictions,” says 24-year-old Juliet Antodi. “I had to go to a further health facility for my injectable, which was costly.”

So RHITES-E tracked all available medical products monthly and helped 25 districts redistribute their available supplies and order additional products. The project also mobilized and delivered 362 essential family planning supplies—such as speculums, tenacula, and sponge-holding forceps—to 26 health facilities.

5. Civil society engagement

During COVID-19, RHITES-E partnered with four civil society organizations—the Mbale Area Federation of Communities, Goshen Blessings, Uganda Moslem Rural Development Association, and Uganda Development Health Association—to generate demand for sexual and reproductive health services.

The local organizations conducted youth-focused community dialogue meetings (by gender and age), home visits, and community sensitization meetings in eight local districts. These included family planning and HIV health education, dispelling myths and misconceptions, and emphasizing the importance of HIV testing. They also provided referrals for services at the nearest health facilities or outreach clinics if needed.

I wish I had had information about family planning like I do now.

6. A role for cultural and traditional leaders

RHITES-E worked with cultural and religious leaders to help them talk to youth about sexual and reproductive health services. During RHITES-E’s community drives and radio talk shows, cultural and traditional leaders addressed myths, misconceptions, and harmful social norms and practices like early marriage.

They worked with “duty bearers” such as police and other local leaders to help transform gender norms and eliminate socio-cultural biases. This coordination led many young people to change their behaviors, including around condom use.

“I stopped going to school due to the COVID-19 lockdown and I got pregnant thereafter,” says Catherine Airo, a 19-year-old from Olela Village in the Amuria District. “I felt bad. I wish I had had information about family planning like I do now.”

The sexual and reproductive health needs of young women and girls in low- and middle-income settings require special attention, especially during major global health threats like COVID-19. A multi-sectoral approach that helps educate clients and improve access to these services and ensures that supply can meet demand is critical.

Client-centered approaches like these can bring services to the community and help more women and girls get the services they need—even during a pandemic.

By Damasco Wamboya

Family Health Technical Team Lead

By Denis Ako-Arrey

Former Chief of Party, Regional Health Integration to Enhance Services in Eastern Uganda

By Esther Tumbare

Senior global technical director for HIV

By Irene Mirembe

Knowledge management manager, IntraHealth International

By Michael Herce

Global Technical Lead for HIV/AIDS and Infectious Diseases

Regional Health Integration to Enhance Services in Eastern Uganda (RHITES-East) Neema Capacity Building for Fistula Treatment and Prevention in Mali (Fistula Mali) Family Planning & Reproductive Health HIV & AIDS COVID-19 Community Health World AIDS Day Youth Engagement Uganda

Is In The Media

A community youth dialogue on teenage pregnancies with young women in the Ngora District of Uganda.

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Cities in Francophone West Africa Add Over 350,000 Family Planning Users

kseaton — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 16:28:18 +0000

Cities in Francophone West Africa Add Over 350,000 Family Planning Users kseaton October 22, 2021 October 25, 2021

Over 350,000 new contraceptive users were added in 12 cities throughout francophone West Africa over the past five years. The Challenge Initiative’s (TCI) West Africa Hub, led by IntraHealth International, contributed to these results by working with local health systems, young people, religious and government leaders, and community health workers to increase access to family planning.

Since 2016, TCI’s francophone West Africa Hub has used a comprehensive approach to improve contraceptive use in five countries: Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Niger. In partnership with municipalities and local health systems, the hub expands access to family planning by supporting the implementation of high impact interventions such as universal referral and post-partum family planning while also working to make those services more youth friendly. To create demand for services, the Hub supports local community-based organizations, youth ambassadors, and religious leaders to promote the benefits of family planning, dispel myths and rumors about contraception, and encourage male involvement in family planning decisions.

“We use high-impact interventions—including universal referral and free family planning days—to reach women and girls with critical family planning services,” says Hawa Talla, IntraHealth’s leader of TCI in West Africa. “And I’m so proud that we’ve been able to make sure they have access to family planning services and know their options when it comes to contraception.”

TCI cities in francophone West Africa have been able to increase access to family planning services with technical support from the Hub team. For example, the Hub developed a training manual and printed job aids for health workers to implement the universal referral intervention, an approach in which every woman of reproductive age who visits a health center is asked about her familiarity with and desire to use family planning. If she’s interested, she can receive services the same day. Over 2,300 health workers were trained on this approach in 910 health facilities. Because of this, over 1,670,000 women of reproductive age received family planning messages and the approach contributed to recruiting 46.8% of new family planning users.

“We’ve found that working with young people, religious leaders, community health workers, and others has helped change the way we talk about family planning in francophone West Africa,” says Talla. “It’s clear people now understand what family planning is and how to access it.”

TCI trained more than 600 young people on transformational leadership, advocacy, and how to participate in reproductive health and family planning programs. The young leaders developed and implemented advocacy plans and participated in family planning and reproductive health decision-making bodies in their regions. As a result of their advocacy, these young leaders also reduced the costs of family planning services, mobilized financial resources, and provided free coupons for family planning to increase access to sexual and reproductive health information, services, and products.

Government engagement is a key component of TCI’s approach and the West Africa Hub connected with mayors who invested in family planning programs and participated in health facility visits and meetings with health workers and youth leaders. Including mayors in local family planning efforts led to an increase in funding, initiatives, workshops, and community dialogues.

In Ziguinchor, Senegal, the health district, city hall, and municipal council members discussed the availability of grant funds, improving equipment and operations for health facilities, and building accommodations for health workers.
All 12 TCI-supported municipalities provided $330,000 to implement high-impact interventions in the cities.
In Koudougou, Burkina Faso, the mayor chaired a five-day workshop for TCI cities to establish joint family planning messages.
And in Benin, young leaders talked to local government officials who then made a commitment to fund vouchers. They advocated for 2,000 young people for the first phase of the program.

Local governments are also routinely assessing the management and sustainability of their family planning programs with the RAISE (Reflection and Action to Improve Self-Reliance and Effectiveness) tool introduced by TCI. Based on the results, they implement course correcting actions.

TCI also worked closely with local partners and officials in francophone West Africa to adjust in real time to COVID-19 by following a “business unusual” model, in which cities ensured sustained access to family planning in urban areas despite the pandemic for lasting and cost-efficient results. To do this, the Hub integrated family planning and infection prevention messages through their “I Choose” communications campaign (using testimonials from mayors, health workers, men, women, and adolescents on why they chose family planning), trained local health workers to help community members conduct home visits (decreasing congestion at health facilities), offered universal referrals, provided remote data collection and analysis coaching to city staff, and created opportunities for remote learning and exchange.

Throughout the last five years, TCI updated their website with helpful information and news. You can access all content here or read more:

TCI worked through four regional hubs, including the Francophone West Africa Hub, which is led by IntraHealth International and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health leads The Challenge Initiative. Two Hopkins-affiliated institutions, Jhpiego and the Center for Communication Programs, and the India office of Population Services International (PSI) also serve as in-country accelerator hubs.

Benin Burkina Faso Côte d’Ivoire Niger Senegal Family Planning & Reproductive Health Community Health Youth Engagement The Challenge Initiative

Assessing Application of WHO Global Standards For Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Five West African Countries

kmelton — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 18:18:34 +0000

Assessing Application of WHO Global Standards For Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Five West African Countries 2021 kmelton June 21, 2021

This technical brief examines the results of the CS4FP Plus 2019 study of adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) service delivery in five West African countries (Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger) and the degree to which ASRH service delivery in those countries aligns with the WHO/UNAIDS’s Global Standards for Quality Health Care Services for Adolescents. The brief also includes recommendations for policymakers and program planners in the five countries.

Download

Countries Côte d’Ivoire Guinea Mali Mauritania Niger

Projects Civil Society for Family Planning

Topics Family Planning & Reproductive Health Youth Engagement

By Cheick Oumar Touré, Moctar Diallo, Demba Traoré, Sujata Bijou

Francophone West Africa Adds 3.8 Million Family Planning Users

kseaton — Wed, 09 Jun 2021 16:27:36 +0000

Francophone West Africa Adds 3.8 Million Family Planning Users kseaton June 09, 2021 June 09, 2021

IntraHealth International’s Civil Society for Family Planning (CS4FP) project partnered with nine countries in francophone West Africa to add 3.8 million additional family planning users and doubled the number of women using modern contraceptives in the region.

For the past ten years, CS4FP has been working with strong, high-functioning civil society coalitions, young people, and religious and traditional leaders in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Togo (Ouagadougou Partnership countries) to collaborate with and advocate to governments to implement their national family planning costed implementation plans (CIPs). The IntraHealth team established and supported national coalitions in all nine Ouagadougou Partnership (OP) countries to unify and strengthen civil society and hold governments accountable for their family planning commitments.

And the project helped build a stronger, more coordinated civil society, which achieved several significant policy changes, including:

Free family planning services in Benin, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Togo.
Integration of comprehensive sexual education in the national curriculum in Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Niger, and Mauritania.
Amendment of the national family planning guidelines in all nine countries to allow community-based distribution of contraception.
Partnership with 285 active religious and traditional leaders and 589 youth ambassadors to raise awareness and break down cultural barriers to family planning.
Engagement with religious and traditional leaders and youth ambassadors in developing the CIPs in their respective countries.

The project’s success can be attributed to CS4FP’s efforts to support, coordinate, and strengthen civil society coalitions (and the civil society organizations they worked with), young people, and religious leaders.

Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)

CS4FP organized workshops for CSOs on good governance, advocacy, resource mobilization, and fundraising. The project also secured commitments from CSOs to join or create family planning coalitions and provided small-scale grants for family planning advocacy. As part of this effort, CSO coalitions engaged young people and religious and traditional leaders to help encourage family planning in their communities. They developed a governance charter, mobilized resources, and developed key strategies for the future.

And they mobilized resources to stay sustainable—for each $1 provided by CS4FP, the coalitions raised an additional $5 to support their family planning activities.

Youth Ambassadors

CS4FP worked as advocates with youth ambassador networks in every country to ensure that national family planning plans and policies reflected the needs and wants of young people.

To do this, the project trained young people on family planning, social media, strategic planning for community mobilization, and resource mobilization to encourage sustainability. Youth networks were active on social media and digital messaging platforms and wrote blog posts on the CS4FP website to share their personal experiences with their peers.

Many adult networks implemented campaigns in their communities to raise awareness and share information about youth-focused family planning activities. As part of the information-sharing effort, youth participated in intergenerational dialogues in their countries and built a regional network linked to the CSO coalitions. Young leaders also received small-scale grants for family planning promotion.

Religious and Traditional Leaders

The project also worked with religious and traditional leaders in all nine Ouagadougou Partnership countries to encourage family planning. Organized at regional levels through the Alliance des leaders Religieux et Traditionnels pour la Santé et le Développement en Afrique de l’Ouest (Alliance of Religious and Traditional Leaders for the Health and Development of West Africa) with CS4FP support, religious and traditional leaders in the nine Ouagadougou Partnership countries and Chad worked together to develop their family planning strategic plan for the next three years.

They participated in family planning workshops to discuss religious texts and the intersection of religion and family planning, and to dispel myths and misinformation about reproductive health. They then developed booklets with key family planning supportive messages and received small grants for advocacy and community mobilization.

CS4FP’s support to civil society coalitions, youth ambassadors, and religious and traditional leaders helped these groups to become well-versed in family planning advocacy and resource mobilization and allowed them to take more ownership to ensure their autonomy and continued success.

These actions helped the West Africa region exceed their FP2020 goals, the only region to do so. Now, there is greater unity and better collaboration among civil society organizations, youth, religious leaders, and Ministries of Health, which has led to more and sustainable family planning and reproductive health activities in francophone West Africa.

CS4FP was funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Dutch Government through the Embassy in Benin.

Benin Burkina Faso Côte d’Ivoire Guinea Mali Mauritania Niger Senegal Togo Family Planning & Reproductive Health Community Health Youth Engagement Civil Society for Family Planning

A Nurse’s View from the Front Lines of COVID-19 in Namibia

mnathe — Mon, 11 May 2020 19:43:15 +0000

A Nurse’s View from the Front Lines of COVID-19 in Namibia mnathe May 11, 2020

May 12, 2020

Irine Chelag’at Birir tells us how the pandemic is changing work for her and her fellow nurses.

Irine Chelag’at Birir is a nurse in Namibia. We asked her to tell us more about her job, including how COVID-19 is affecting work for her and her fellow nurses in the country.

Here’s what she told us.

Why did you become a nurse?

I grew up in a remote village in Kenya. My neighbor’s daughters were nurses and I admired the way they came home in uniform.

When I received my acceptance letter from the nursing school, I was so happy, I was over the moon. The joy couldn't be described. I was admitted in one of the best nursing schools in Kenya and I was so happy.

When I started, I thought nursing was just holding a needle and injecting it, but it’s so much more than that. I’ve learned so much about the diversity of nursing.

For me, nursing and midwifery is not just a profession, it’s a calling. Nurses attend to people who need help when no one else will. They sacrifice their sleep, listen to people’s stories, and attend to extremely sick people, including those with highly infectious diseases. The same person opens the eye of a newborn and closes the eyes of a dying person with dignity.

How has your background prepared you for this pandemic?

Nurses are trained for emergencies like COVID-19. I am privileged to have gotten all the knowledge from the training school, the experience having worked for several years, as well as the frequent updates provided by the IntraHealth national office.

I started working as a nurse in Kenya immediately after I graduated, and then was placed in Lesotho in 2008. I was in a facility delivering antiretroviral treatment services. It was new for me. I didn’t know much, and I had to learn at work, very fast. Then in 2016, I moved to Namibia. Working in different places prepared me for whatever happens, and when a situation like this comes, nurses gets continuous updates on how to handle it.

How has your job changed because of coronavirus?

I work as a nurse mentor for IntraHealth in the Zambezi region in Namibia. Namibia is now in stage two of lockdown, which allows work and businesses to open and operate while adhering to infection prevention and control measures.

As a nurse mentor, I am responsible for providing technical support and mentoring to field workers like nurses, community care workers, and other staff. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, physical gatherings and physical contact are prohibited, and this is a challenge for me in providing onsite mentorship. However, thanks to technology, I am able to do telephonic Zoom meetings, phone calls, and other non-contact mentorship.

As a nurse mentor, I am responsible for ensuring that nurses and other staff provide high-quality services for sexual health and HIV prevention to adolescent girls and young women. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the main challenge has been to reach the girls for the services, since clients are discouraged from attending the health facilities, except in emergency cases. We are therefore calling the clients and delivering services door-to-door for those who agree. Some of them we meet in a community area where they feel comfortable, considering social distancing of one to two meters apart.

We are doing this to ensure continuity of services for clients who need family planning and HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. For the clients taking PrEP, we also issue doses for a longer duration of up to six months.

As a nurse, what do you want people to remember?

I advise people to get to know everything about COVID-19. It’s my job to educate people and tell them what happens. We need to share information with them and give them disease-prevention information. We are also telling everyone, not just our clients, about what the symptoms are and what they should do. We are advising people, if possible, to stay at home.

People need to know that they should call the hotline provided by the Ministry of Health and Social Services, and ask questions before they go to a health facility, if they feel they are having COVID-19 symptoms.

Being a nurse is not easy. Nurses have families too. While everyone is advised to do social distancing, this never applies to nurses. A nurse has to be at a health facility or hospital to do what they do best, taking care of the sick, including the patients with COVID-19.

When I started nursing, I didn’t know that. There are things you aren’t prepared for in life. It’s so much more than just holding a needle and giving an injection. You must be strong. Nursing is a sacrifice.

But it’s good to be a nurse. Being in uniform connects all of us nurses, working in the ward from corner to corner, with a drug trolley. I love it so much.

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Resources

Investing in the Power of Nurse Leadership: What Will It Take?

By Irine Chelag’at Birir

Nurse mentor

By Katherine Seaton

Former communications manager

COVID-19 International Nurses Day Global health security Nursing & Midwifery 2020 Youth Engagement Nurses Namibia

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