The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and its network of Member Organizations/partners constitute the world’s largest provider of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services and share a long history of being at the forefront of promoting and defending sexual and reproductive health and rights. Working toward a vision in which “all people are free to make choices about their sexuality and well-being, in a world free of discrimination,” IPPF emphasizes the intersectionality of good health and well-being with poverty, gender, race, ethnicity, addressing these through the provision of integrated, rights- based, and gender-inclusive health services for all.  From 2018 to 2020, funding from Global Affairs Canada (GAC), through the She Decides project, supported IPPF and its local partners in five priority countries – Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Malawi, and Mali – to expand their reach and impact in advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), particularly for those who are most marginalized. During the project period, partners provided close to 17 million SRH services at their service delivery points, such as STI screenings, HIV testing, safe abortion, and counseling and access to modern contraceptives such as long-term injectables, surpassing the initial target by 770,000. The vast majority of clients receiving these services (76.5%) are those living below the poverty line, frequently at great distances from existing health services/facilities, who may be internally displaced as a result of humanitarian crises, and are often further marginalized on the basis of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.  Funding through GAC/She Decides enabled partners to develop and implement innovative strategies for reaching these populations and the most hard-to-reach regions that had some of the worst SRHR indicators. For example, In Malawi, our Member Association - Family Planning Association of Malawi (FPAM) - expanded its service delivery to rural, under-served communities in four districts (Dedza, Dowa, Mzuzu and Lilongwe) through outreach services, and strengthened provision of a comprehensive package of integrated SRH services through static clinics in 12 districts. Over the course of implementation, FPAM reached approximately 555,186 (over 25 years) women and 659,382 (<25 years) girls with integrated SHR services. A particular focus of the project has been to increase the access of hard-to-reach youth to SRHR information and services, through Youth Life Centers, youth outreach clinics, and intensive involvement of youth in outreach activities and awareness-raising campaigns. In Mali, IPPF Member Association - Association Malienne pour la Promotion et la Protection de la Famille (AMPPF) - used multiple service delivery strategies to expand access to SRH services in some of the most under-served regions of the country, some of them affected by ongoing security risks. It includes the regions of Kayes, Koulikoro, Sikasso, Ségou, Mopti, Gao, and Bamako District. Over the course of the project, AMPPF provided 1,524,825 integrated SRH services to over 556,228 women and girls. AMPPF organized 857 community engagement activities, including outreach at highly attended community festivals, reaching an estimated 41,423 people with positive messages about SRHR. In addition to directly supporting services and community mobilization to reach specific vulnerable populations in each country, She Decides has helped boost partners’ advocacy efforts to champion sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), in particular for a more enabling environment in which governments and other key decision-makers are committed to upholding and fulfilling SRHR. Through this project, partners completed 2,005 specific advocacy engagements. Partners contributed to 31 advocacy wins that engender greater respect and protection of SRHR and have long-term implications for the health and wellbeing of women and girls in project countries.  Key high-level advocacy initiatives included: incorporation of SRHR in municipal development plans in project regions (Colombia); approval of the National Plan to Reduce Teen Pregnancy (Dominican Republic); increasing contraceptive security and transparency around SRH financing (Guatemala); advancing abortion law reform (Malawi); and advocating for the integration of SRH into the COVID-19 response (Mali). Underpinning these interventions was a deliberate effort to build partners’ overall sustainability through data and financial systems strengthening and sustainability efforts to improve their resilience to future shocks, whether from a sudden loss of donor funding or a crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic, which erupted in the last quarter of the project, tested this capacity as partners pivoted quickly to provide continuity of services and to advocate for the inclusion of SRHR as part of the emergency response.

Wednesday, 7 April 2021. Today, IPPF Africa Region joins the rest of the world in celebrating the World Health Day, under the theme: ‘Building a fairer, healthier world’. IPPF Africa Region is cognizant of the various inequalities that exist in society that affect our general well-being, especially those pertaining to sexual and reproductive health (SRH). These inequalities include people’s ability to access health facilities, the cost of these services and the quality of healthcare they receive, among others. These inequalities become more pronounced during crisis times, such as those we are experiencing since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Populations that have been and continue to be hardest hit by the pandemic are those from low income, vulnerable and disadvantaged backgrounds. On a regular basis, these populations face great challenges earning a decent income, which in turn affects their access to affordable, quality healthcare. Their struggles become exacerbated during crisis times. Women and girls, who already face a myriad of pre-existing gender inequalities have been among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. These are the populations that IPPF Africa Region, through its 37 Member Associations strives to reach with affordable and quality sexual reproductive health services. This, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 5 which pertain to health and well-being, and gender equality, respectively. We are also driven by the tenets of Universal Health Care (UHC) that seek to ensure that individuals receive the health services they need without suffering financial hardship. Our work is centered around investing in functional health systems and practices in the countries where we work. To achieve our goals, we work with various partners, key among them Ministries of Health, Education, Youth, Gender and Culture, Parliamentarians, the African Union (AU), religious and traditional leaders, Civil Society Organizations and other entities in the formulation of respective policies and guidelines that address inequalities in sexual and reproductive health. Through their static clinics and mobile outreach services, our Member Associations (MAs) offer affordable and quality SRH services, ensuring they reach the most vulnerable populations. Despite the disruptions caused by COVID-19, our MAs have made every effort to ensure the continued provision of essential SRH services to the populations they serve. In doing so, our MAs have had to be innovative, adapting to new strategies that accommodated the restrictions imposed by governments in a bid to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Some of the new strategies they adapted included conducting online trainings and offering Digital Health Interventions. In Benin for example, our MA completed 4,930 online Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) sessions with young people. In Zambia, the MA undertook a self-managed care model of contraceptive provision, where they trained women on both oral and injectable contraceptives. As a result of this, 1,535 women began using the DMPA-SC (Sayana Press) injectable, and were given two doses of the contraceptives, which they would self-inject at home. A further 1,138 women chose the oral contraceptives and were given six-month supplies of the same. Our MAs also worked with government bodies to lobby for changes in policy, guidelines and protocol development to create an enabling environment for the delivery of SRH services during the pandemic. Six MAs (Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Mali, Niger and Chad) reported the inclusion of SRH in the list of essential services provided during the pandemic. On this World Health Day, we reiterate our commitment to ensuring that all people in sub-Saharan Africa are reached with affordable, quality SRH information and services. We endeavor to reduce and eliminate all inequalities in sexual reproductive health. For more information about the work of IPPF Africa Region, connect with us on Facebook and Twitter. 

From January 24 to February 15, 2021, an high-level mission of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) conducted by the Regional Director for Africa, Marie-Evelyne Petrus-Barry, went respectively to Senegal and Guinea to explore opportunities to better anchor the IPPF action in West and Central Africa through the establishment of a new sub-office  and the strengthening and diversifying of its partnerships in the region. In Senegal, the mission met with relevant authorities, including the Ministry of Youth, the General Secretary of the Ministry of Women, Family and Gender, the Director of Cabinet of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Director of the Cooperation to lay the foundations for the opening of a new IPPFARO sub-office for West and Central Africa in the country.  This new sub-office will enable IPPF to better support its West and Central Africa member associations and increase its local relevance and partnership with human rights and development organizations, sub-regional economic commissions and the donor community in this part of Africa. The authorities met by the delegation encouraged this initiative. According to Jean Antoine Diouf, Chief of Cabinet of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "IPPF's support to access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services is much appreciated and reinforces the actions of African governments ".The Ministry of Youth, Néné Fatoumata Tall, also expressed her enthusiasm regarding the future establishment of a sub-office of IPPF in Senegal, wishing for frank collaboration between her department and IPPF on youth issues. “The changing environment and the high-demand for SRHR services would be better served by an IPPF presence in the sub-region,” she said. The mission also held discussions with international organizations working in the same fields as IPPF such as Amnesty regional office for West and Central Africa, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and OXFAM with a view to creating joint programs and projects or strengthening existing partnerships with a special focus on the support, protection and defense of Human Rights Defenders working in the field of reproductive health and rights. In Guinea, the delegation met with the IPPF Member Association “Guinean Association for Family Welfare (AGBEF)” to finalize the Association's accreditation process, and visit some of its SRHR delivery facilities.  An affiliate member of IPPF since 1989, AGBEF is a Guinean non-profit NGO, founded in 1984  with the aim of reducing infant and maternal mortality in Guinea. Today it provides a wide range of SRHR services including family planning, child delivery, screening and care for People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), comprehensive sexuality education and SRHR training courses. The delegation also held meetings with Guinean authorities, including the First Lady, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of education, to discuss the strengthening of the collaboration framework between the country and IPPF in the field of SRHR in Guinea, and more particularly on CSE. During her meeting, the First Lady, Conde Djene Kaba expressed her gratitude to IPPF and its partner AGBEF for the efforts made since 1984 to provide quality sexual and reproductive health services in Guinea. She welcomed the visit of IPPF's Regional Director to the country and expressed her unwavering support for AGBEF's initiatives for young people, women and underserved populations in Guinea. The high-level mission was concluded with a visit to the NGO Solidarité Suisse-Guinée in Labe, south of Guinea, to assess the possibility of a collaborative partnership in the fields of SRHR, including the fight against female genital mutilation. During this visit, the delegation had opportunity to visit the NGO's grassroots achievements among which three community health centres providing sexual and reproductive health services with financial support from the NGO Solidarité. The managers of the various centres warmly welcomed the mission, testified to the importance of the current and future support provided by the NGO to their structures to meet the growing needs of the local populations in terms of health in general and SSHR in particular. The discussions held with the Governments of Senegal and Guinea, as well as the different international organizations working in the same field as IPPF laid the groundwork for future collaboration on SRHR issues in general and protection and defense of Human rights defenders working in the field of reproductive health and rights in particular. The visits to IPPFARO member association and collaborative partners in these two countries also reinforced the federation’s cohesion with a view to better address challenges and better serve populations.

A Federação Internacional Para o Planeamento Familiar (IPPF) acolhe as notícias sobre a descriminalização das relações entre pessoas do mesmo sexo em Angola.  A IPPF reconhece e congratula os activistas, defensores e organizações que ajudaram a tornar possível esta alteração histórica na lei. Na Quinta-feira, 10 de Fevereiro, entrou em vigor o novo código penal de Angola, o qual descriminaliza as relações entre pessoas do mesmo sexo. Também introduz protecções relativas à orientação sexual em algumas das cláusulas não-discriminatórias de Angola, e menciona a orientação sexual nas cláusulas do discurso do código penal. Os Angolanos de todas as orientações sexuais podem finalmente viver com maior liberdade e desfrutar do mesmo direito constitucional relativo ao amor e à autonomia corporal. Estas alterações representam a primeira reformulação das leis da era colonial desde que Angola conquistou a independência em 1975, abolindo cláusulas dessa era que estavam em vigor desde que o código penal introduziu a proibição em 1886. A Directora do Escritório Regional de África da IPPF, Marie-Evelyne Petrus-Barry declarou: “As notícias que chegam de Angola dão nova vida e esperança renovada não apenas para a comunidade LGBTI em Angola, mas para África como um todo. As leis anti-LGBTI da era colonial são uma mancha na nossa consciência colectiva, e esta decisão assinala uma nova era de inclusividade, esperança e amor. Ninguém deve ser tratado como criminoso por escolher quem amar, e esperamos que esta alteração legislativa inspire outros países que tenham um vestígio colonial semelhante a reverem as suas próprias leis.” O primeiro passo para alterar o código penal foi dado em 2019 quando o Parlamento aprovou as alterações propostas. No entanto, apenas em Novembro de 2020 é que estas foram ratificadas pelo Presidente João Lourenço, com um prazo de 90 dias até à sua entrada em vigor na última semana. O novo código penal aboliu a linguagem de “vício contra natura”, a qual era percebida como uma proibição às relações com pessoas do mesmo sexo. A nova lei inclui vários artigos que protegem contra a discriminação com base na orientação sexual, em relação ao trabalho ou locais públicos e eventos, e inclui a pena de prisão até dois anos por discriminação baseada na orientação sexual. Após a descriminalização em Angola, o número de países onde a homossexualidade é descriminalizada é agora 72. Esta é uma base sólida para o que aí vem, para permitir um mundo onde todas as pessoas possam tomar decisões sobre a sua sexualidade e bem-estar, livres de discriminação, uma luta na qual a IPPF será uma participante activa. Leia esta declaração em inglês.