Member Associations

Ethiopia, the second most populous country in Africa, and the tenth most populous in the world, has enormous sexual and reproductive health (SRH) challenges as the statistics demonstrate. The Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia (FGAE) celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2015. It has a broad reach which focuses on providing poor and marginalized populations with family planning, safe abortion care, maternal and child health care, prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases (STIs) including HIV and AIDS and associated opportunistic infections. In the shape of permanent clinics, mobile facilities, community-based services (CBSs), FGAE has numerous service points. Staff, backed by over thousands volunteers, hundreds of peer educators and of community-based distributors (CBDs).  There’s no disguising the fact that achieving proper SRH amongst the Ethiopian people is an exhausting uphill struggle. FGAE has the will, the determination and the backing to fight for people’s rights and welfare. Access is key to the Member Association’s activity, and it works extensively with young people to inform, educate and provide essential SRH services. FGAE also runs special projects targeted at particularly vulnerable individuals and groups: street children, people living with HIV and AIDS, sex workers, and young migrants in 8 of the 11 principal Regions in Ethiopia. FGAE partners with government, with non-governmental organisations(NGOs) including the  Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Women, Children and Youth, UNFPA-Ethiopia, CARE-Ethiopia, DKT-Ethiopia, Dawn of Hope, the Ethiopian Women’s Lawyer Association, and a broad spectrum of HIV and AIDS-related operations. Private sector partners include Betezata Hospital and Janmeda/medical bio laboratories, and donors to the Member Association’s work include the Royal Netherlands Embassy, the Packard Foundation, IPPF’s Japan Trust Fund, USAID/CDC and Irish Aid. Website: www.fgaeet.org  

The Society for Health Education (SHE) was established in 1988 by 4 women. It adopts an integrated approach to health education and service delivery and its role includes increasing the accessibility of services and using the media for education and communication. The society runs outreach programmes and mobilizes voluntary support to develop projects and to maintain and enhance service provision. SHE conducts selective research to assess and report on emergent health issues (especially the high incidence of thalassaemia). SHE operates a permanent clinic offering family planning services in the Maldive’s capital, Male. From here it runs counselling services, training courses for medical, paramedical and administrative staff, screening, and genetic counselling and research with a view to reducing the number of children born with thalassaemia. In schools, SHE operates a health programme for young people, providing information on population, thalassaemia, early marriage and pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and smoking and drugs. It also produces an extensive range of health education materials including both publications and radio and television programmes.  Fundraising and income generation is a high priority for SHE which organizes a number of annual events, such as a Children's Festival and a Thalassaemia Dinner. Website: www.she.org.mv