The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is pleased to share that last month it was awarded the USAID-funded, five-year, $45 million Expand Family Planning and Sexual and Reproductive Health (ExpandPF) Activity following a competitive process. ExpandPF will scale up evidence-based family planning practices, including postpartum family planning and engaging community health workers, to improve access to and use of voluntary family planning services in poor and underserved urban and peri-urban populations. ExpandPF envisions a local-partner forward strategy and close engagement with young people for implementation in Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Mauritania, and Togo. IPPF brings strong experience improving access to client-centered, quality family planning and sexual and reproductive health care services as allowed under USAID regulations and local law. Its structure is designed to advance locally led development, engaging women and youth while reaching underserved and marginalized communities. Hortense Angoran Benie, MD, MPH will lead ExpandPF and has significant management experience with complex public health programs across West and Central Africa. IPPF’s partners include Options Consultancy Services, Etrilabs, and IPPF member associations in each of the four implementing countries: Association Ivoirienne pour le Bien-Être Familial (AIBEF), Association Togolaise pour le Bien-Être Familial (ATBEF), Association Mauritanienne pour la Promotion de la Famille (AMPF), and Cameroon National Association for Family Welfare (CAMNAFAW). The team also includes Viamo as sub-contractor. Through ExpandPF, the consortium will ultimately assist individuals to make voluntary, informed decisions about family planning with access to contraceptive methods and services. “IPPF is very proud to receive the ExpandPF award,” said Dr. Alvaro Bermejo, IPPF Director General. “It affirms our commitment to West and Central Africa and expanding contraceptive choice to underserved and marginalized populations. IPPF believes that by working with our esteemed partners, we can advance meaningful progress across the region.” "ExpandPF aligns well with IPPF's strategy of prioritizing access to family planning and sexual and reproductive health services for vulnerable women and girls in West and Central Africa,” said Marie-Evelyne Petrus-Barry, IPPF Africa Regional Director. USAID administers the U.S. foreign assistance program providing economic and humanitarian assistance in more than 80 countries worldwide. The Agency is committed to helping countries meet the family planning and reproductive health needs of their people through voluntarism and informed choice.

According to WHO more than 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) in 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia where it is practiced. FGM is still highly prevalent across Mauritania: in 2021, 64% of girls and women aged 15-49 years have undergone FGM (in some regions, FGM prevalence is as high as 93%). Ending FGM and gender-based violence (GBV) still faces strong conservative barriers. The Association Mauritanienne pour la Promotion de la Famille (AMPF) is a member association of International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). Since its foundation in 1988, AMPF has focused on sensitizing the general population and the country’s political and religious leaders to the personal, health, and economic benefits of family planning and promoting and providing voluntary sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services. AMPF is one of the strongest advocates against gender-based violence (GBV) and female genital mutilation (FGM) in Mauritania. Female genital mutilation (FGM) involves the partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. The practice has no health benefits for girls and women. FGM can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, as well as complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths.