| 31 March 2016
Association Congolaise pour le Bien-Etre Familial
The Association Congolaise pour le Bien-Etre Familial (ACBEF) opened its doors for the first time in 1987. Then it was a small operation dedicated to attending to the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs of the urban poor. 25 years later, ACBEF reaches out to the whole country through a network of over 100 community-based distributors (CBDs) backed by static clinics and permanent staff. In addition, ACBEF relies on over 1,000 volunteers, including fully-trained peer educators and a Youth Action Movement. ACBEF provides a comprehensive range of services covering integrated family planning, voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), prevention and management of HIV and AIDS, post-abortion care, antenatal and post-natal care, youth-friendly education and information projects, contraceptive and laboratory services. Stigma and taboos around HIV and AIDS are strong in Congo, and ACBEF is engaged in major re-education and sensitization on this front. ACBEF aims its work at a wide public, with particular emphasis on young people (aged 25 and under), internally displaced people, sex workers and women of child-bearing age. Work occurs in both rural and urban areas. With high visibility in the national media, ABCEF is making major inroads in SRH in a very difficult environment. ABCEF works in close partnership with the government’s ministries of Health, Foreign Affairs, and Gender, and with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) including Jeunesse Action Sida. ABCEF receives financial support from the European Union, UNFPA and the Congolese Government.
| 09 December 2020
Papua New Guinea Family Health Association
The Papua New Guinea Family Health Association (PNGFHA) was established in 1981 and registered in the same year under Section 7 of the Associations Incorporation Act, Papua New Guinea. PNGFHA became an IPPF Collaborative Partner in 2001 and then an Associate Member, approved at the December 2020 Board of Trustees meeting. The Association's Head Office was originally based in Lae, Morobe, but was relocated to the capital Port Moresby, in 2015. PNGFHA currently operates across 8 static clinics in Port Moresby (3), Lae, Markham and Bulolo (Morobe Province), Goroka (Eastern Highlands Province), and Kokopo (East New Britain Province), and are operated from facilities provided either by the Provincial Health or the district authorities. PNGFHA has a staff of 25, both clinical and non-clinical, and is supported by an extensive network of volunteers. Each clinic has regular outreach services to remote populations, providing safe and confidential SRH services and raising awareness. In 2021, PNGFHA delivered 220,038 SRH services to 53,497 clients, more than 90 per cent of whom were poor/ vulnerable. The clinics provide a wide range of SRH services including STI and HIV awareness, family planning, responding to cases of gender-based violence, and counselling. Legal services for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) are also provided due to need. Other programs include the youth/adolescence comprehensive sexuality education with out-of-school and in-school youths. Various outreach programs such as mobile clinics and awareness have also been implemented in partnership with local Provincial Health authorities. Currently PNGFHA have 3 furnished operational youth centres and youth clinic which provide support for the youth volunteer network, community outreach, CSE both in and out of school. Youth friendly spaces offer youth the opportunity to access information, receive counselling and a friendly safe space where young people can meet and share ideas. The youth friendly clinic provides access to quality and relevant youth centred SRH services and referrals, in the case of SGBV, by staff that are sensitive and trained to dealing with young people. Outreach involves activities mostly identified by the young people themselves, ranging from awareness in a school settings and communities, during a community event, community and government organised activities such as cultural shows and sports events. Through outreach events, trained youths are able to reach out to their peers and motivate them to access more information and services.