Media Contact: Laurel Lundstrom (llundstrom@pathfinder.org)
March 10, 2020 (Kampala, Uganda)—Pathfinder International, with a new five-year award from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), will play a catalytic role in increasing access to modern contraception and reducing the unmet need for voluntary family planning services in Uganda.
Under Pathfinder’s leadership and in close collaboration with Uganda’s Ministry of Health, the USAID/Uganda Family Planning Activity (FPA) will support the Government of Uganda to accelerate progress toward its commitments and objectives under FP2020 and the country’s Vision 2040 strategy. These commitments include achieving a modern contraceptive prevalence rate—defined as use of modern contraception among married women of reproductive age—of 50 percent. Currently, the modern contraceptive prevalence rate in Uganda is 28.5 percent.
FPA approaches include:
- Increasing the proportion of the national health budget allocated to family planning.
- Addressing contraceptive stock-outs.
- Increasing the number of districts using costed implementation plans for family planning.
- Improving data quality and reporting.
- Shifting social norms through evidence-based social and behavior change communication techniques.
“FPA comes at an important time as Uganda seeks to meet international commitments to increasing family planning access and faces a youth bulge with half of the country’s population currently younger than 15,” said FPA’s Chief of Party Herbert Mugumya. “We will work hand in hand with national and local partners to encourage the adoption of positive reproductive behaviors, enhance social norms and behaviors, and increase equitable access to voluntary family planning.”
FPA interventions will be conducted across 11 districts of Uganda where communities have a significant unmet need for voluntary family planning services and will support regionally based implementing partners to offer quality services at scale. FPA will scale up high-impact practices and test new innovations that address the unique reproductive health needs of individual Ugandans.
FPA and its local partners—Uganda Protestant Medical Board, Samasha Medical Foundation, and Ugandan Youth and Adolescents Health Forum—will focus on reaching women and girls including those that are first-time parents. The project will apply evidence-based approaches that address gender disparities and biases preventing adolescents and youth from accessing contraception.
“Pathfinder looks forward to continuing our close working relationship with the Government of Uganda, USAID, and other key partners in strengthening the health system and facilitating an environment that enables access to quality, comprehensive contraceptive choice for women and girls who need it most,” said Catherine Kirk, Pathfinder’s Executive Director, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. “This project has the potential for significant positive impact in Uganda toward improving health, well-being, and by investing in young people to move Uganda on its pathway to a demographic dividend.”
