Project profile — Ensuring Access to Family Planning Services in Ghana

• Ghana (100.00%)

• Population policy and administrative management:
Population policy and administrative management (13010) (20.00%)
Reproductive health care (13020) (50.00%)
Family planning (13030) (30.00%)

• Disability (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (not targeted)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (not targeted)
• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (principal objective)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)
• Nutrition (not targeted)
• Disaster Risk Reduction(DRR) (not targeted)

This project aims to ensure access to high-quality family planning (FP) and comprehensive abortion care (CAC) services for the poorest and most underserved women and girls in 11 of Ghana’s 16 regions. This project focuses on reaching some of the poorest and most underserved women and girls in the country, within the Central, Northern, North East and Savannah regions. This project also contributes to strengthens their decision-making power on issues that affect their health. Project activities include: (1) supporting local advocacy efforts that call to strengthen policies and guidelines related to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services in Ghana, including the adoption of SRHR education in schools and the national rollout of FP services as part of the National Health Insurance Scheme benefit package; (2) strengthening the capacity of the Government of Ghana to provide strong policy leadership and meet the increasing demand for SRHR services via its public health care system; and (3) supporting a national youth-focused campaign on Heath and FP. This project expects to directly benefit 200,000 women and girls by providing them access to high quality, rights-based and client-centred FP and CAC services. Other direct beneficiaries include: (1) 208 public sector providers, including eight master trainers/supervisors; (2) eight public sector health promoters and 120 community-based volunteers; (3) 100 private sector service providers who are members of the BlueStar Network social franchise; (4) 200 community pharmacists; and (5) 3,600 police officers/recruits who expect to receive training on safeguarding sexual and reproductive health and rights.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased use of high-quality family planning (FP) and comprehensive abortion care (CAC) services by poor and underserved women and girls; (2) improved support for poor and underserved women and girls to seek high quality services that meet their individual FP and CAC needs; and (3) created a more sustainable and supportive environment for fulfilling sexual and reproductive health and rights in Ghana.

Results achieved as of March 2024 include: (1) delivered 500,869 Family Planning and Couple Years Protection procedures across project communities. Also administered 45,997 comprehensive abortion care services. Increased access to Family Planning and Couple Years Protection services resulted in the prevention of an estimated 391,331 unintended pregnancies, 234,437 unsafe abortions averted, and 1,348 maternal deaths prevented; (2) trained 520 public service providers (481 women and 39 men) on Family Planning and Comprehensive Abortion Care services. Also provided with the necessary equipment and commodities to provide these services in their health facilities. Also strengthened capacity of 323 private sector service providers (211 women and 31 men) to provide community-based Comprehensive Abortion Care and Family Planning services; and (3) supported Marie Stopes International to provide technical support for revisions to the national guidelines and protocols to ensure gender-sensitive and adolescent-friendly services are provided at the facilities. MSI in consultation with their partners, also helped in completing the revision of the national guidelines on school-based health services to remove barriers to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights services through school clinics and nurse-led reproductive health education in schools.

• Proactive disclosure