Every young person has to make life-changing decisions about their sexual and reproductive health. However many of them cannot access clear, evidence-based information. IPPF's comprehensive sexuality education programmes enable young people to make informed decisions about their sexuality and health, while building life skills and promoting gender equality.
Articles by Comprehensive Sex Education
The Global Comprehensive Abortion Care Initiative (GCACI)
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.
Girls Decide
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.
ACT!2030
IPPF collaborates with UNAIDS and The PACT to implement ACT!2030 (formerly ACT!2015), a youth-led social action initiative which engages young people in 12 countries with advocacy and accountability around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other SRHR agreements/frameworks. ACT!2030 was initiated in 2013 as a way to increase youth participation in the negotiations leading up to the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda, and for two years focused on establishing alliances of youth-led and youth-serving organisations in 12 countries across the world. The project is currently in Phase 4, which runs until the end of 2017, and aims to establish youth-led, data-driven accountability mechanisms to ensure youth engagement with the implementation of the SDGs and build an evidence base for advocacy. Ultimately, Phase 4 of ACT!2030 seeks to identify, assess and address key policy barriers to young people’s sexual and reproductive data by using existing data, supplemented by youth-collected data, to advocate and lobby for policy change. This phase involves four main activities: indicator advocacy (persuading decision makers to adopt youth-friendly SRHR and HIV indicators, including on things like comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) and access to youth-friendly services, into national/global reporting mechanisms); evidence gathering (creating national databases on quality of and access to youth-friendly services and CSE); communications (transforming this data and evidence into communications pieces that can be used to advocacy and lobby at national and international level); and global exchange (facilitating global visibility to share advocacy and engagement learnings and increase youth-led accountability in global and regional processes). ACT!2030 is implemented by national alliances of youth organisations in 12 countries: Algeria, Bulgaria, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Abortion Quality of Care from the Client Perspective: a Qualitative Study in India and Kenya
Quality healthcare is a key part of people’s right to health and dignity, yet access to high-quality care can be limited by legal, social and economic contexts. There is limited consensus on what domains constitute quality in abortion care and the opinions of people seeking abortion have little representation in current abortion quality measures. In this qualitative study, we conducted 45 interviews with abortion clients in Mumbai, India, and in Eldoret and Thika, Kenya, to assess experiences with abortion care, definitions of quality and priorities for high-quality abortion care.
Anchoring the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) in West and Central Africa: Visit of a High-Level Mission to Senegal and Guinea
From January 24 - February 15, 2021, a 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 Minister of Youth, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Women, Family and Gender, the Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Organizations Director to lay the foundations for the opening of a new IPPF Africa Regional Office (IPPF ARO) 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 Region 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 Staff 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 Minister of Youth, Nene 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 International regional office for West and Central Africa, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), both at country and Regional levels and OXFAM with a view to creating joint programs and projects or strengthening existing partnerships, with a special focus on the support, protection and defence of Human Rights Defenders working in the field of reproductive health and rights. In Dakar, the delegation also met the Senegalese Association for Family Welfare (ASBEF) Volunteers to discuss the challenges of future collaboration. 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 Minister of Health and the Minister 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 the meeting with her, 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 Guinean NGO. 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 than IPPF laid the groundwork for future collaboration on SRHR issues in general and protection and defence of Human rights defenders working in the field of reproductive health and rights in particular. The visits to IPPFARO member associations and collaborative partners in these two countries also reinforced the federation’s cohesion with a view to better address challenges and better serve populations. Story by Moctar Menta, Content Specialist, IPPF Africa Regional Office. For more information about the work of IPPF Africa Region, connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
IPPF Africa Regional Office Welcomes Decision by Biden Administration to Repeal Mexico City Policy
The International Planned Parenthood Federation, Africa Regional Office warmly welcomes the decision made by the US Government to repeal the Mexico City Policy, dubbed the Global Gag Rule (GGR). Signed into order in January 2017 by the Trump Administration, this policy blocked critical US funding from organisations like IPPF that work to end unsafe abortions globally, even if the funds were not used for abortion services directly. With previous Republican Administrations, the GGR was limited to Family Planning assistance from the Department of State and USAID. However, the Trump administration further expanded the scope of this policy to include global health assistance from the State Department, USAID, Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Defense. IPPF refused to sign the order, losing about $100 million in funding as a result. The consequences were devastating for women and girls on the continent. In Burkina Faso for example, Our Member Association, ABBEF, lost over 1 million dollars in funding, leaving communities that relied on ABBEF clinics for healthcare without quality and affordable sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) care. Too many stories of loss and death have emerged, with a recent study by Guttmacher revealing that the policy has had a deadly impact on women and girls’ health, clinical providers, community health workers and critical public health partners around the world. Our committed donors however stepped up to fill some of these funding gaps through emergency GGR funding. We are grateful to the Governments of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the Hewlett Foundation. IPPFARO’s Regional Director, Marie-Evelyne Petrus Barry commented: “Globally the direct consequences of this policy on the health and lives of women and girls in Africa have been devastating. Today I join the SRHR community to welcome this decision. I look forward to working with the new US Administration to restore access to critical lifesaving services, and reverse some of the damage caused so far by this harmful policy. It is high time to work together to ensure that sexual and reproductive rights and as well as reproductive justice of women and girls become a priority and are upheld by for all.” Today, we look forward to this new reality with enthusiasm and hope, for a world where critical funding for services like contraception, maternal health, HIV prevention and treatment are a continued reality, and not at the mercy of one policy or administration.
Innovating to Provide Abortion Care During COVID-19
During the COVID-19 pandemic, women globally face compounded barriers to accessing safe abortion care. The de-prioritization of sexual and reproductive health services including abortion care, overwhelmed health systems, restrictions on movement and fear of visiting health facilities have all created additional challenges for women to safely end a pregnancy. However, recognizing the need to adapt to ensure women have access to the care they need, this crisis has sparked innovation among IPPF Member Associations. They developed new approaches to reach women with safe abortion information and care, while keeping women’s choice and quality of care at the centre of their work. This document illustrates some of the innovative approaches used to ensure continued access to quality abortion care during the pandemic.
Family Planning is not here to destroy us, but to help us
Her life in a slum in Nairobi At 23, Mercy Atieno has procured four unsafe abortions with the fourth one being nearly fatal. Mercy grew up in densely populated informal settlement in Nairobi. Access to basic needs was and still is difficult. To her, the possibility for a bright future is a fantasy. Her mother works hard to fend for her and her siblings. She struggles to buy food and to pay for their education. Her alcoholic father often comes back in the middle of the night; howling and scattering them from the living room that also functions as the bedroom for children. He hurls insults at them and her mother, curses at their existence and wishes that he had never brought them to this earth. Their shanty - a mud-walled, iron-roofed single-roomed house clearly illustrates the scarcity of resources. “I started being sexually active at 16. I joined a group of other tough girls in the hood. We call ourselves Maguangi*” She said. Being in this group shields them from sexual and physical violence from boys and men around Kibera. Atieno's multiple abortions Mercy remained confidential about her first three unsafe abortions for she considers them “successful”. She chose to speak about the last unsafe abortion that almost took her life away. “I had a boyfriend who claimed that he loved me and that he would marry me. I had sex with him a couple of times. One day I told him I was pregnant with his child. He said he was not responsible. He stopped calling, he stopped texting and even blocked my number. I was so disturbed. I did not want to disappoint my mother. After all, she had sacrificed a lot for me,” said Mercy Atieno. “When I told my friends about it, they told me not to worry. We would get rid of the pregnancy the same way we did with the others. They took me to some woman who had earned a good name locally for successfully terminating ‘bigger’ pregnancies than mine. At this point, mine was already five months and quite noticeable. They helped me raise the money that was required, KES 200 (USD 20). She narrated. The last straw On one evening, Mercy sneaked into the woman’s house. The woman gave her some traditional blend of herbs. She promised her that it would work well in few fours. She went home and took some needed rest. “That night I could not sleep, I was in so much pain and was bleeding a lot I thought I was going to die.” Mercy added. She became unconscious. Her mother rushed her to Family Health Options Kenya (FHOK) Kibera Centre, which is few meters from their home. Where she met Aggrey. She was admitted and given medical attention. “When I woke up, I was feeling much better, I was then given a few days of bed rest. Before I was discharged, I was counselled and advised me to take up a family planning method. I went for a long-term method - the implant. Nowadays, I also use condoms to protect myself from sexually transmitted diseases including HIV” She said. Mercy closed her story with a word of advise to her peers, “Family Planning is not here to destroy us, but to help us.’’
Their Choice, Our Fate
Bilan* is a 17-year-old girl from Dire Dawa in Ethiopia. She is from the Somali community in Ethiopia. Her father and sister died leaving behind Bilan, her mother and grandmother. At the beginning of 2017, her mother and grandmother decided to marry her off to a 27-year-old man. When they married me off, in their hearts of hearts, they felt that they were doing the right thing because they wanted a better life for me. Although I did not want to get married this young, I had no choice. In the recent past, two girls from my neighbourhood got pregnant out of wedlock and abandoned their children in the local hospital. Being pregnant while unmarried is unacceptable in the Somali Muslim community. When the story came out, my family decided that this was not going to be my fate. If I got pregnant before marriage, my mother and grandmother would have to bear the shame, furthermore the community would blame them for my immorality. With this in mind, they forced me to get married. (Bilan stares into space and weeps uncontrollably). This still hurts me. Although I eventually accepted to get married, it was with a lot of bitterness because I wanted to complete school. I was in the eighth grade when I dropped out of school. When I moved in with my husband I came up with a plan; to get vocational training. I talked to my uncle about going to his salon to learn hairdressing and the salon business generally, to which he agreed and was open to helping me. When I requested my husband to allow me to go for this training, he refused. He did not want me to work. He wanted me to stay home while he worked. Unfortunately, his income was meagre and could not sustain us. I got frustrated. It was also an unhappy environment for me. I asked him for a divorce and he obliged. Unfortunately, when all this happened I got sick, when I went to hospital, they told me I was pregnant. I refused to accept this. How could I be pregnant now with all the plans I had? Since I did not trust the results, I went to another hospital and they confirmed the same. I realised that I must have conceived when I missed some of my pills. I estimate this to be about 12 weeks ago. This situation made me restless and troubled me a lot. I couldn’t imagine having a baby all by myself. Now that I was single single it will bring shame to my family, I also did not want to raise a baby without its father. I don’t want my fate to be that of my baby’s. I would like my children to be born in a marriage setting. I also want my children to get an education, something that I did not get. I first heard about family planning (FP) from my sister. She is using injectables which she got from the government hospital. I went to the government hospital where they strongly encouraged me to use the injectable, which I did not want, I preferred pills (microgynon). When I told my sister that I wanted to use my method of choice and get more information on family planning she advised me to go to the Family Guidance of Ethiopia (FGAE) clinics as they have a wide range of quality services. She also told me that they are very supportive and once I went there, their services were for life. My visit there was very productive. After counselling I felt that I was not in the state of mind to have a child, there was too much at stake. I knew then that I needed to terminate the pregnancy. I selected medical abortion because I did not want anyone inserting instruments in me. I also decided to take up the implant as my preferred family planning method because I do not want to worry about getting pregnant before I achieve what I want to do in life. Initially, I was afraid of pain associated with getting the implant but the service provider assured me that I would not feel any pain. I honestly did not even realize when it was put because the service provider kept me occupied throughout. I would recommend FGAE to my friends and people in my community. Their services are good and dispel any fears and misconceptions about reproductive health one has. I also like that they do not discriminate, their services promote clients’ privacy and confidentiality. I came with a friend and they do not even know what services I came for. I would like to see FGAE reaching women in my Kebele so that they can provide information to girls on unsafe abortion and FP. Many of the unplanned pregnancies among girls in my community can be prevented. When I came for the services I did not have any money so FGAE provided these services for free. I would want girls in my community to know that they can come here and I would want them to take up a method based on counselling and not misinformation provided by neighbours and friends in the community. FGAE is a Member Association (MA) of the International Planned Parenthood Federation Africa Region (IPPFAR). IPPFAR is the leading sexual reproductive health provider in the region with over 94 million SRH services offered in 2016 alone. Contraception and HIV services take up the bulk of the services provided. Currently, abortion services are available within the countries that have permitted it within their laws and policies. Story compiled by Muthoni Wachira, IPPFAR *Name has been changed to protect the identity of the individual
The Mahe Declaration – Reaching our goal of ending HIV for women and girls
The International Planned Parenthood Federation Africa Region (IPPFAR) participated in the 1st Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Women’s Parliamentary forum dubbed “Road 60/2: Ending HIV for women and girls” that was held on 5th and 6th July 2017 in Mahe, Seychelles. This forum is the result of the adoption of Resolution 60/2 entitled “Women and the Girl Child and HIV and AIDS” in March 2016 at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) held in New York, USA. The aim of the forum was to increase access to information and free sexual reproductive health (SRH) rights and services through reinforcing commitment and engagement of leaders in parliament. The Female Parliamentarians, UN Agencies, Civil Society Organizations and Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Practitioners came together to deliberate on the legal and policy frameworks on Access to SRHR information and services for adolescents, girls and young women; Access to safe abortion; Gender-Based Violence; Issues facing Women and Girls. IPPFAR is proud to be part of this historic moment. IPPFAR played a key role in pushing for the motion on Access to Safe Abortion to be passed and adopted. The Mahe Declaration provides the framework for SADC States to align their country laws and policies to ensure SRHR are accessible to women and girls. The declaration was deliberated during this forum to ensure that the experiences and lessons learnt from stakeholders within the region are captured and collated to develop ideas. These ideas will help in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals viz (SDG) 3 - Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages and SDG 5 - Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. IPPF Africa Region is committed to lend its technical expertise in SRHR advocacy and service delivery to achieve these goals. With 97 million Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services provided within the Africa Region in 2016, IPPFAR remains the leader in the provision of SRH services in the region. Through our Member Associations (MAs), quality SRH services are accessible to youth, men and women in both urban, peri-urban and rural settings. IPPFAR is also the leading voice in advocacy for sexual and reproductive health and rights in the region. IPPFAR calls upon the leaders of SADC and the Africa continent in general to commit to the implementation of the Mahe Declaration at the country level. Furthermore, IPPFAR invites all stakeholders including Governments to intensify efforts at creating public awareness regarding international, regional and national human rights protocols and mechanisms to decriminalize safe abortion care and services. It behooves on service providers, policy makers and leaders to listen to the feeble voices of women and girls to uplift their dignity. In this regard, the clarion call by 16-year old girl Natasha Mwanza of Zambia during the forum should be given serious consideration: "Let us speak out! Sexual Reproductive Health Rights and Services are our right not privilege!" Young Natasha reminds all and sundry that it is time to enact and enforce laws and policies that safeguard the reproductive health and rights of women and girls. It is the firm belief of IPPFAR that the forum has provided the necessary impetus and the legal and policy framework to improve access to SRH rights and services including safe abortion care on the African continent. This will eventually contribute to ending HIV infections in women and girls. We need to acknowledge that promotion of free access to SRH rights and services will lead to empowerment of women and subsequently lead to the development of the African Continent.