FP2030 Programme: Overcoming challenges and improving access to family planning in Africa

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Extract from the article: Lomé is hosting a regional workshop for French-speaking family planning focal points (FP2030) from 19 to 22 June 2023. Over two days, government players, civil society organisations, youth groups and technical and financial partners will discuss...

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Lomé is hosting a regional workshop for French-speaking family planning focal points (FP2030) from 19 to 22 June 2023. Over two days, government players, civil society organisations, youth groups and technical and financial partners will discuss and develop strategies to improve access to family planning services. The meeting was launched by Dr Mamessilé Aklah Agbah-Assih, Minister for Universal Access to Healthcare. The UNFPA Resident Representative, Josiane Yaguibou, the Director of the Ouagadougou Partnership Coordination Unit, Marie Ba, and the Executive Director of FP2030, Dr Samukeliso Dube, were also present.

Under the theme "A renewed vision: Accelerating FP using the regional model", the workshop will provide delegates from all over French-speaking sub-Saharan Africa with an opportunity to discuss the progress made, the remaining challenges and the strategies to be adopted to achieve the objectives set by the FP2030 programme.

 

Over four days, the discussions will focus on family planning, in particular the financing of family planning programmes, including the mobilisation of national resources, accountability through strengthening and the establishment of existing national action plans. There will also be discussions on protecting contraceptive and reproductive health supply chains and promoting high-impact practices for implementing and scaling up family planning, as well as strategies for implementation in emergency situations and promoting resilience to advance the FP2030 agenda in the respective countries.

 

UNFPA Resident Representative Josiane Yaguibou underlined the convergence of vision between FP2030 and UNFPA, saying: "We are working to ensure that every person has access to quality family planning information and services, delivered through approaches that empower women and girls, affirm individual human rights and leave no one behind... We are more aware than ever of the value and necessity of innovative regional partnerships such as FP2030 that advance the rights of people everywhere to access reproductive health services safely and on their own terms." She expressed her satisfaction at the holding of this focal workshop, the first of its kind led by the new FP2030 regional centre for North, West and Central Africa, and expressed her enthusiasm for continuing the conversation.

In her keynote speech, Mamessilé Aklah Agbah-Assih, Minister for Universal Access to Healthcare, reminded delegates of the efforts being made in Africa, and in Togo in particular, to guarantee better health for the population, especially women and girls. While recalling the challenges facing governments, she invited participants to propose strategies for achieving the goals set by the Global Partnership for Family Planning by 2030.

The FP2030 programme, launched at the London Conference on Family Planning in 2016, aims to accelerate progress in sexual and reproductive health in developing countries. Its main objective is to guarantee universal access to quality reproductive health services, comprehensive sex education and modern contraception by 2030. According to Dr Samukeliso Dube, Executive Director of FP2030, "FP2030 envisions a future in which people everywhere have the freedom and ability to lead healthy lives, to make their own informed decisions about contraceptive use and reproduction, and to participate equally in society and its development".

This workshop marks an important step towards achieving this ambitious vision of FP2030 by strengthening collaboration and developing concrete strategies to improve access to family planning services in French-speaking African countries. The collective commitment demonstrated at this event is testament to the willingness of reproductive health stakeholders to work together to overcome obstacles and advance the family planning agenda in the region.

Raymond DZAKPATA