Niger Faces Five Key Family Planning Challenges

By Molly Rosett, Program Officer, IntraHealth International President Mahamadou Issoufou shakes hands with Mariama Abdou Gado, president of the Niger youth ambassador network. Photo by EtriLabs.July 10, 2019TheOuagadougou Partnership is nearing the end of its 2015-2020 acceleration phase. This alliance of nine West African countries set an ambitious goal to reach 2.2 million new women and girls with modern contraceptives during those five years. So far, they’ve reached over 1.8 million.Their success now hinges on maintaining themomentum they’ve built in the region, and in bolstering those countries where progress has been slow, including Niger.As of mid-2018, Niger had reached about 77% of its objective (182,000 new users of modern contraceptives by 2020). But among the partnership countries, its rate of increase in modern contraceptive prevalence is among the slowest.When I visited this vast West African country during the Ouagadougou Partnership donor caravan in April, I saw a vibrantyouth movement. There was also stronger political engagement than we witnessed duringthe last caravan visit in 2017.One of the partnership’s strategies is to encourage learning and exchange opportunities—and healthy competition—among the nine countries. And it’s increasing engagement at the highest levels. In Niger, key ministers and the President himself are getting involved and could help Niger meet its ambitious objectives. But first, the countr...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Family Planning & Reproductive Health Source Type: news