The United Nations Population Fund - UNFPA
 in the Philippines

Reproductive Health, 
including Family Planning and Sexual Health

  The results of a 2000 Reproductive Health Survey conducted in all areas where UNFPA is active, revealed the following:

  • Out of 1,344 service delivery points in the nine UNFPA-assisted provinces, 917 (68%) are offering at least three reproductive health services. These include mainly modern family planning methods, maternal health care and assisted deliveries, and prevention and management of reproductive tract infections (RTIs), sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS.

  • Of these service delivery points, 1,184 (88%) are offering at least three modern methods of contraception; namely pills, condoms and IUDs and/or injectibles.

  • Only 8% of the service delivery points offered information, education, counseling or access to adolescent services.

  These data indicate that reproductive health services in UNFPA’s core areas – family planning, maternal care and prevention of STIs and HIV/AIDS -- are being provided in the majority of health posts, clinics and hospitals in the nine provinces where UNFPA is active. However, more efforts are needed to meet the reproductive and family planning needs of adolescents.

  During the year 2000, 3,353 health personnel and volunteers were trained in gender-responsive reproductive health, violence against women, human sexuality, adolescent reproductive health and medico-legal courses. In addition, 15 local and four international study tours were organized to provide health workers with new perspectives so they could learn from innovative approaches already employed in implementing community-based reproductive health services.

  The $2,135,000 project funded by the UN Foundation – Gender-Responsive Quality Reproductive Health Care Services in Selected NGOs – ended in 2000. A project evaluation carried out in mid-2000 revealed that the innovative approaches spearheaded by the 10 NGOs involved in the project resulted in:

  • Greater awareness of the communities and target groups about gender relations;
  • Improved attitudes towards reproductive health issues, including greater compassion for AIDS victims;
  • Increased in-house and/or local advocacy and training capacity;
  • Improved skills and competence of staff and volunteers in counseling and delivery of quality reproductive health information and services;
  • Enhanced capacity of clinics to provide Papsmear and breast cancer screening, counseling for victims of domestic violence and counseling for infertility; and
  • Increased services aimed specifically at youth and adolescents.

Population and Development

  UNFPA’s work in the broad areas of population and development center on three main areas:

  • Creation of an enabling policy environment for population and development programmes through the consistent use of population data and information.
  • Keeping population and development issues on the national political agenda.
  • Facilitating decision-making at both the national (Ministry of Health) level and at local community levels.

Advocacy

  UNFPA has an extensive advocacy campaign in the Philippines. To date, the Fund’s advocacy efforts have contributed to:

  • Increased political, institutional and community support for the development and implementation of a gender-sensitive comprehensive reproductive health programme in the country;
  • Increased allocation of financial and human resources for a nation-wide reproductive health programme;
  • The empowerment of women and adolescents at the community level with respect to reproductive health and rights.

This advocacy strategy has three main outputs:

    • Common guidelines on advocacy activities, including reproductive health and rights, male involvement, adolescent and youth concerns, gender equality and women’s empowerment.
    • Strengthened capacity of NGOs, community action groups, government agencies and the mass media to advocate for population and reproductive health programmes.
    • Increased support for population and reproductive health activities among various influential groups: policy-makers, legislators, religious and community leaders, the media and health practitioners.

  UNFPA has also been instrumental in involving other partner organizations in population activities and has been a catalytic force in mobilizing bi-lateral and multi-lateral funding in the Philippines for reproductive health and family planning, targeting, in particular, adolescents and youth.


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