|
The United Nations Population Fund - UNFPA
in Ghana
Reproductive
Health,
Including Family Planning and Sexual Health
The main aim of
UNFPA’s reproductive health programme is to increase
the utilization of quality reproductive health and
family planning services. UNFPA’s national programme
focuses on: improving access to reproductive health
services, especially in under-served areas; meeting the
needs of adolescents; collaborating with other partners
to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually
transmitted infections; and strengthening the country’s
capacity for programme coordination and monitoring.
As a
result of the stark contrasts between the northern and
southern regions of the country, UNFPA’s new Country
Programme concentrates on 24 districts in three northern
provinces. These three provinces contain 18 per cent of
the country’s population, but have only a fraction of
health care services available in the south.
At the
national level, UNFPA’s support helps to strengthen
the capacity of the Reproductive and Child Health Unit
of the Ministry of Health to coordinate activities of
the implementing agencies and donors, expand
reproductive health information and services designed
for adolescents, and monitor the implementation of the
reproductive health programme throughout the country.
A major
new initiative, launched in 2000, was the African Youth
Alliance (AYA) funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation. The founding members of the Alliance are:
UNFPA, PATH and Pathfinder International. Ghana is one
of four countries participating in this pan-African
initiative. The others are: Botswana, Tanzania and
Uganda. The main objective of the Alliance is to assist
governments in their response to the growing menace of
HIV/AIDS, especially among youth. This five year program
will channel about $14 million into Ghana for the
prevention of HIV/AIDS and related activities, including
the launching of a nation-wide advocacy campaign aimed
at youth.
One area
where UNFPA funding has been critical is in expanding
the availability of gender-sensitive, quality
reproductive health services. Community-based health
services have been strengthened considerably through
support for training and the placement of community
health nurses/midwives in under-served communities.
In terms
of helping to ensure contraceptive commodity security,
UNFPA, USAID, IPPF and DFID (the UK Department for
International Development) provide the bulk of Ghana’s
contraceptive supplies. In addition, the World Bank,
through UNFPA, has provided $4.5 million for
contraceptives over the next few years.
Population and
Development
The main
objective of UNFPA’s assistance in the area of
population and development is to ensure the integration
of population and gender concerns in national and
regional development planning and programmes. Key
challenges in this respect include: improving data
collection for the design, implementation and evaluation
of population and reproductive health policies and
programmes; strengthening capacity to collect, analyze
and utilize information and data on population and
reproductive health issues; bolstering awareness of
population and development inter-relationships; and
better integration of population and reproductive health
concerns into overall development policies and
programmes.
In
connection with UNFPA’s assistance in this area, three
outputs are expected:
- Increased
availability of population and reproductive health
data and information on gender equality, women’s
empowerment and on the socio-economic impact of
HIV/AIDS.
- Increased
integration at the national level and at the
district level in the three northern regions of
population and gender concerns in development
policies and programmes.
- Improved environment
for population programmes.
Advocacy
Ghana’s
advocacy efforts are concentrated on providing
youth-friendly reproductive health services, ensuring
gender-sensitive information and services, and ensuring
that in the 24 northern districts where UNFPA is
focusing its activities youth and gender issues are
integrated into the overall approach.
BACK HOME
|
GHANA
