By Valerie DeFillipo, Director,
FP2020
Sometimes
it's hard to tell if your work really makes a difference. Three months after
the London Summit on Family Planning, I led a delegation of UNFPA supporters to
Ghana. We saw a diverse and inspiring range of maternal health programs -- from
government hospitals to an entrepreneurial midwife who designed and produced
birthing stools with the help of a local carpenter.
In
Tamale, we visited a brand new Marie Stopes clinic fully stocked with a range
of modern contraceptive methods. It was located in the heart of the city, at a
vibrant, open air market that stands at the crossroads of three ancient trade
routes. For the women and men who work there, the clinic could not be more
convenient -- they could easily dash off for an appointment or for supplies.
From
there we flew north to Bolgatanga, then traveled by bus towards the border with
Burkina Faso. As we drove, the tarmac gave way to unpaved roads. Cracks became
grooves, and grooves became ditches. As the hours passed, the villages became
smaller and the distance between them grew. Wherever we were headed, it felt
worlds away from the hustle and bustle of Tamale.
Finally
we arrived at our destination: a plain, L-shaped building in a small compound.
It was a Planned Parenthood of Ghana clinic that provides an integrated mix of
family planning and other health education and services.
Despite
its remoteness, we were greeted with as much enthusiasm and excitement as we
felt in Tamale. About 200 people -- village elders, mothers and fathers,
grandmothers and grandfathers, children -- had come out to show support for
their clinic. They told us about the difference the clinic was making in their
lives. In this isolated location, it was their only source of medical care.
But
as we toured the facility, I happened to notice one person who wasn't taking
part in the excitement. Her name was Afia, and she sat very quietly, in a
corner, on a hard wooden bench. A midwife was by her side.
Afia's
face was etched in pain, but her cries were muted. With quiet dignity, and few
of the trappings that attend births in countries like my own, I found out she
was in labor to deliver her first child.
As
a mother myself, I knew how scared she must have felt. I also knew that in
Ghana, for every 100,000 women who go into labor, 350 die giving birth or
because of pregnancy-related complications. The statistics can be numbing.
Afia
remained on my mind and two days later, I learned she had a lovely baby girl,
and both mother and child were happy and most importantly, healthy.
I
know that in the coming months and years, the clinic will help Afia keep
herself and her baby healthy, and will give her the contraceptives she needs to
plan her family and her future.
Our
work does make a difference. This is what Family Planning 2020 is all about:
reaching women, no matter where they live, with the information, services and
supplies they need. Program by program, clinic by clinic, and woman by woman.
One
year after the London Summit on Family Planning, I am pleased to report that
FP2020 continues to build the foundations of a global movement and is
accelerating progress towards achieving our goal of reaching an additional 120
million women with lifesaving contraceptive information, services and supplies
by 2020.
Countries
are championing the cause -- over twenty governments have already made
commitments and a few more are gearing up to do so. National, costed family
planning plans are being drafted and implemented, new health laws are being
passed and service delivery barriers are being addressed.
Price-reduction
agreements on long-acting, reversible contraceptive implants and the scale-up
in delivery of discreet, injectable contraceptives ensures that millions of
women will be able to access a range of family planning methods. We've improved
relations with allies, built and strengthened new partnerships, and established
our global governance framework. I am proud of what we've accomplished
together.
And
yet, I remain acutely aware that the work of FP2020 has only just begun. We
have so much more to do to ensure that family planning remains front and center
on the global development agenda. This will require even stronger international
partnerships to uphold and guard the unified aspirations of millions of women
and girls to chart their own future.
Women
like Afia are depending on us to keep the promises we made one year ago at the
London Summit. As we move forward into the second year of FP2020, I am
convinced and confident that working together, we shall.
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