Pathfinder International Awarded $3.2 Million Grant for Reproductive Health Services in Nigeria

Pathfinder International today received a $3.2 million grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation for a program that will increase reproductive health coverage in Northern Nigeria.

(PRWEB) March 28, 2004 --Pathfinder International today announced it has received a $3.2 million grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation for a program that will increase reproductive health coverage and break down barriers to quality reproductive health and family planning in Northern Nigeria.

The three-year program, titled Reproductive Health/Family Planning Service Delivery in Northern Nigeria, began in February of this year. The program is phase II of an initiative begun by Pathfinder International in October 2000, aimed at increasing access to availability of family planning and reproductive health services through a network of private sector service providers.

The initiative will continue to increase reproductive health coverage, continue capacity-building initiatives and enhance advocacy efforts. The program will also focus on increasing youth access to family planning and reproductive health services through service delivery at youth centers and integrated youth-friendly services at health clinics. Ongoing activities will focus on the six northern states of Borno, Katsina, Kaduna, Kano, Niger and Sokoto while expanding the program to Abuja, ultimately supporting 138 facilities and 5,200 community-level providers. The goal is to reach 232,085 new users with family planning and reproductive health services

The people of Northern Nigeria continue to face challenges stemming from a lack of reproductive health care and sexual education," said Dan Pellegrom, president of Pathfinder International. This grant from the Packard Foundation will provide the population centers in Northern Nigeria with access to these services while educating the Nigerian youth about sexual and reproductive health. This helps to build a strong foundation for the future."

Reaching the Youth of Nigeria
According to the United Nations population fund, half of the world's people are under the age of 25. With the largest-ever generation of adolescents who are approaching adulthood, it has become critical to educate youth about sexual reproductive health care and to provide appropriate services. Northern Nigeria is characterized by low-levels of education, high incidence of early marriage, and a lack of reproductive health care. This program undertaken by Pathfinder will work through youth centers to provide youth-friendly services and to increase youth patronage of reproductive health and family planning services. Ultimately, the goal of this program is to reach 15,000 youth with sexual and reproductive health services.

Community Advocacy
Advocacy initiatives targeted to community, traditional and religious leaders will continue in order to gain greater acceptance of family planning and reproductive health services, expand demand for services and overcome cultural resistance, particularly among men.
The need to increase male participation is critical to the success of the program. While men claim to regard family planning as a womans affair," they are highly influential in matters relating to family planning and reproductive health service delivery.

Working with Local Organizations
The goal of the program is to increase the availability, access, and utilization of family planning and reproductive health services to underserved populations through a network of private sector service providers. In addition, during phase II the program will offer services in workplaces, markets, churches and mosques.

Pathfinder has a long history of partnerships with local organizations, launching marketplace and workplace-based health education programs that have evolved into broader reproductive health services and integrated HIV/AIDS prevention services. While marketplace initiatives have been successful in southern Nigeria, cultural and religious barriers will make it more difficult to implement these activities in Northern Nigeria. The success of these programs will depend on sustained communication of information and education, and consistent advocacy efforts to generate demand for services, gain community acceptance, overcome myths and misperceptions and combat religious and cultural resistance.

Clinic-based services
Pathfinder will continue to provide integrated reproductive health services through its current network of clinics and health facilities in the six states. Emphasis will be placed on strengthening service provider skills, improving the quality of reproductive health services, including post-abortion care and obstetric care, and improving clinic and client management through management information systems training.

To assure high quality services, all the facilities will be assessed and supplied with the basic equipment required to provide integrated reproductive health and family planning services, support greater demand, increase client satisfaction and enhance provider skills.

About Pathfinder International
Pathfinder International provides women, men, and adolescents throughout the developing world with access to quality family planning and reproductive health information and services. Pathfinder works to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS, to provide care to women suffering from the complications of unsafe abortion, and to advocate for sound reproductive health policies in the U.S. and abroad.

On the Net: www.pathfind.org

About The Packard Foundation
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation works to ensure opportunities for all children to reach their potential, to protect reproductive rights and stabilize world population, to conserve and restore the earth's natural systems, and to encourage the creative pursuit of science. The Foundations population program seeks to slow the rate of growth of the world's population, to expand reproductive health options among the world's poor, and to support reproductive rights.