Expanding Choices in Family Planning
ACCESS-FP Begins Work in Albania
February 14, 2007, Tirana A two-day consensus building stakeholders’ meeting titled “Building Consensus for Action: Meeting the Family Planning Needs of Albanian Women” marked a start of a new, promising collaboration among the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Ministry of Health, and JHPIEGO, an international health affiliate of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA. Over 50 policymakers, international and state partners, and health care providers gathered at the Tirana International to discuss strategy and map out the action plan for implementation of a new project by ACCESS-FP, a global program lead by JHPIEGO.
ACCESS-FP will support the Ministry of Health’s efforts to improve maternal and reproductive health in Albania, as well as increase knowledge, access and use of modern methods of contraception. During the next 18 months the project will work in Tiranë, Shkodër, and Korçë districts to address the family planning and reproductive health needs of women in the extended postpartum and postabortion periods. Another goal of the program will be to expand woman’s contraceptive choices to include an intrauterine contraceptive device (IUCD) to provide a long-term, reliable and safe family planning method for women in Albania.
To achieve the goals of the project, ACCESS-FP is planning to work with health care providers at the maternity hospital and policlinic levels in the three districts with an objective to update their knowledge and clinical and interpersonal skills in the areas of postpartum and postabortion family planning, and IUD provision. To generate demand for such services, the project will develop materials for postpartum and postabortion clients with information about when women can become pregnant again and what types of contraceptive options are available.
The project pays specific attention to building consensus among stakeholders. To create the initial momentum, this meeting will provide an initial orientation and technical update to the stakeholders, and work to reach consensus on the project objectives and strategy. It is expected that this meeting will result in increased support from the supervisors and policymakers toward the further activities.
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About ACCESS-FP: The ACCESS-FP Program is a 5-year, USAID global program with the goal of responding to the significant unmet needs for family planning among postpartum women. ACCESS-FP is an Associate Award through the ACCESS Program, a global program that works to expand coverage, access and use of key maternal and newborn health services across a continuum of care from the household to the hospital, with the aim of making quality health services accessible for women and newborns. ACCESS-FP is implemented by JHPIEGO in partnership with Save the Children, Constella Futures, the Academy for Educational Development, the American College of Nurse-Midwives and IMA World Health.
About JHPIEGO: For nearly 40 years, JHPIEGO, (pronounced "JA-PIE-GO"), has empowered frontline health workers by designing and implementing simple, low-cost, hands-on solutions that strengthen the delivery of health care services, following the household to hospital continuum of care. We partner with community- to national-level organizations to build sustainable, local capacity through advocacy, policy and guidelines development, quality and performance improvement approaches.
