News reports have confirmed that the UK, “through its Department for International Development has today, announced its new Family Planning by Choice program, which will provide £90 million of support for voluntary family planning in Ethiopia over the next four years.”
This is contained in a statement issued by the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office. It is stated in the report that the program will work with the Federal Ministry of Health to give millions of women access to modern, voluntary family planning services across the country.
The program’s aim is stated to “provide 13 million women with direct access to family planning information; Support 6 million current family planning users and attract three million more voluntary users. The program will, according to plans, “prevent 15 million unwanted pregnancies and 300,000 maternal child deaths.”
Furthermore, the is expected to “enable over 3,000 health facilities, mostly rural health centers, to provide quality family planning services; Establish 100 Quality Assurance Hubs at referral and general hospitals; and, Establish 10 family planning Centers of Excellence at teaching hospitals.”
It is hoped that this vision will be met “by providing family planning choices for everyone who wants it. So that Ethiopia “can be able to: increase women’s voice, choice and control over their reproductive health; slow down population growth; and enhance economic growth.”
According to the report, the “program is part of the UK’s global leadership on family planning, which is part of UK support around the world at the London Family Planning Summit on 11 July 2017.”
