The Japan Trust Fund for HIV and Reproductive Health is built on the three pillars Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.  i.e. Reduce child mortality and improve maternal health by strengthening health systems through use of EMBRACE approach Infectious Diseases: HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria: Scale up effective interventions through the Global Fund to fight against HIV/ADIS, tuberculosis and malaria. Public Health Emergencies: Provide support to respond to global public health emergencies and health crises due to natural disasters and conflicts, thereby contributing to peace-building and community stabilization In Africa the fund is granted to programmes in Kenya, Lesotho, Rwanda, Ghana, Swaziland, Zambia and Senegal where we deliver mother to child health services through the EMBRACE model increase access to sexual and reproductive health services to most vulnerable women and girls including post conflict/emergency settings promote innovative service delivery models for SRHR and HIV services (sometimes in partnership with the Japanese multinational companies) JTF allocated funds for M&E and capacity building as one of the priorities of the initiative is to increase capacity of Member Associations on new thematic areas as well as develop innovative service delivery models. The projects are operational for a maximum of two years.   

The Access, Services and Knowledge (ASK): what young people want, what young people need’ programme targets young people (10-24 years) including underserved groups, with a specific focus on uptake of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services. The 3 year programme targets African young people in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Ghana and Senegal. ASK aims to ensure that young people not only receive direct information on sexual and reproductive health and rights so that they can make independent informed decisions. The ASK programme is a joint effort by 7 organisations: IPPF Rutgers WPF, Simavi, Amref Flying Doctors, Choice, dance4life and Stop Aids Now! Child Helpline International is engaged in the programme as a technical partner.

Expanding access to safe abortion is a key priority for IPPF and our Member Associations. A programme at IPPF since 2008 and now in its fifth phase, the Global Comprehensive Abortion Care Initiative (GCACI) is our flagship project entirely dedicated to this mission.   GCACI currently supports 15 IPPF Member Associations across 3 regions to provide quality comprehensive abortion care, increase the uptake of post-abortion contraception, increase access to contraceptive services through service provision and implement a client-based clinic management information system in all participating Member Association clinics. From 2019 to 2020 (phase V), 213,875 women received comprehensive abortion care in 16 countries across three regions. Out of this total, 90% adopted contraception with 25% choosing long-acting methods. In addition, about 1.6 million women were provided with a modern method of contraception. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Member Associations have continued to provide abortion care to women, adapting and implementing innovative service delivery models to respond to the unique challenges to access and service provision the pandemic brought. From self-care approaches, telemedicine and home-based delivery of safe abortion, women and girls have benefitted from alternative and highly effective mechanisms to access safe abortion in the face of COVID restrictions. In 2021, GCACI Member Associations will prioritise the expansion and strengthening of these innovative models of service delivery, as well as continuing to ensure that in-clinic care remains quality, accessible, and affordable. Strategies will focus on increasing access to abortion care for poor, marginalised and vulnerable communities, including reaching young people through youth-centred services.

Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer in women worldwide with approximately 500,000 new cases and about 250,000 deaths each year (about 85% of these deaths occur in low and middle income countries). This translates to around one woman dying of cervical cancer every two minutes around the world.  In response to this huge disease burden among women, IPPF Member Associations in the Africa Region are providing Cervical Cancer Screening and Treatment as part of the SRH package of services offered to their clients, with a focus on the poor and marginalized.  With the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, IPPF has a focused initiative on Cervical Cancer Screening and Preventive Therapy through Reproductive Health Networks being implemented in four Member Associations in Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. This programme focuses on the integration of cervical cancer screening and treatment of pre-cancerous lesions through Visual Inspection with Acetic acid (VIA) and Cryotherapy. This is an approach that has shown great effectiveness in low resource settings whereby middle level health workers using inexpensive and affordable technology are able save the lives of hundreds and thousands of women by identifying pre-cancerous lesions early and providing early treatment. The initiative supports the training of service providers, procurement of equipment and supplies, community mobilization/outreach and IEC, strengthening data systems and conduct of operations research around cervical cancer screening and preventive therapy programme implementation. For just over one year of implementation in the four countries, there are now over 190 static and outreach screening sites and 25 Cryotherapy sites. During this period, the four Member Associations have been able to reach over 80,000 women with cervical cancer screening services and provided Cryotherapy to those found eligible.  IPPF envisages scaling up the cervical programme implemented in these four countries and other across the region to further expand cervical cancer screening and treatment so as to reach more women with these lifesaving services through an integrated approach.

This programme addresses critical challenges faced by young women around sexual health and sexuality. It has produced a range of advocacy, education and informational materials to support research, awareness-raising, advocacy and service delivery.    Girls Decide is about the sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women. Around the world, girls aged 10 to 19 account for 23% of all disease associated with pregnancy and childbirth. An estimated 2.5 million have unsafe abortions every year. Worldwide, young women account for 60% of the 5.5 million young people living with HIV and/or AIDS. Girls Decide has produced a range of advocacy, education and informational materials to support work to improve sexual health and rights for girls and young women. These include a series of films on sexual and reproductive health decisions faced by 6 young women in 6 different countries. The films won the prestigious International Video and Communications Award (IVCA). When girls and young women have access to critical lifesaving services and information, and when they are able to make meaningful choices about their life path, they are empowered. Their quality of life improves, as does the well-being of their families and the communities in which they live. Their collective ability to achieve internationally agreed development goals is strengthened. Almost all IPPF Member Associations provide services to young people and 1 in every 3 clients is a young person below the age of 25. All young women and girls are rights-holders and are entitled to sexual and reproductive rights. As a matter of principle, the IPPF Secretariat and Member Associations stand by girls by respecting and fulfilling their right to high quality services; they stand up for girls by supporting them in making their own decisions related to sexuality and pregnancy; they stand for sexual and reproductive rights by addressing the challenges faced by young women and girls at local, national and international levels.

The Innovation Programme tests new ideas and approaches to solving some of today's greatest sexual and reproductive health and rights challenges. Please click here for an interactive map of our projects around the world. Ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health in a constantly changing world requires innovative thinking. The Innovation Programme connects local expertise with global knowledge to find new and effective ways to improve people’s sexual and reproductive health. IPPF Member Associations develop creative projects to address these challenges, and partner with independent researchers to provide evidence and rationale for their success or failure within a safe space to take managed risks and learn. Learning from innovation contributes to the evidence base and is shared widely, both internally and externally. In Phase I, 41 initiatives were funded between 2005 and 2012. These initiatives have made important and sustainable changes to people’s lives. These focused on issues including: child marriage, people trafficking, supporting refugees, integrated services for people living with HIV, inclusion of sexual and gender diversity, and advocating for access to safe abortion services. The current phase of the Innovation Programme is funding 11 initiatives, including mHealth interventions to increase contraceptive access for young people; access to safe post-abortion care in humanitarian crises; approaches to increase participation and access of men and boys to sexual and reproductive health; and low-cost behavioural insights interventions to improve uptake and effectiveness of comprehensive sexuality education.