Member Associations

The Bahrain Family Planning Association (BRHA) was founded in 1975, the organization has played a critical role in promoting reproductive health. Bahrain and in achieving government support to adopt necessary policies on reproductive health (RH) including the incorporation of (RH) into the school curriculum. BRHA receives support from the ministries of health, social development, labour, and education, and it partners closely with the upper and lower government house (the parliament and the Shoura Council). BRHA operates a highly successful telephone hotline service which provides counseling and advise on reproductive health to callers from both Bahrain and neighboring countries. The very particular needs and the constraints in Bahrain mean the BRHA is highly focused on advocacy and is limited in its capacity to deliver direct education (RH) services. However, it does run strong information, education and communication (IEC) programs (targeted towards young people and women) and extensive education and literacy initiatives which are particularly designed to reach out to all community groups.  

The Vietnam Family Planning Association (VINAFPA) complements and supplements the Vietnamese government’s family planning programme, by providing direct services and information, education and communication (IEC) programmes. Over recent years, the country has experienced falling levels of fertility and reduced maternal and child mortality. VINAFPA has played a vital role in delivering these improvements. The organization runs over 1,350 distinct service points, including: 19 permanent clinics, 21 mobile facilities and a ground force of over 1,200 community-based distributors (CBDs). These CBDs are VINAFPA-trained individuals, living in a particular locality, who distribute supplies and offer advice and information. The intensity and impact of their work is borne out by the numbers. Currently, the unmet need for contraception rate runs at 5%, but VINAFPA is working hard to improve this.