Media center

The Director General of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Dr Alvaro Bermejo, is in Australia this week for high level meetings with Australian Government Ministers and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). He is joined by Ms Tomoka Fukuda, Regional Director of IPPF’s East and Southeast Asia and Oceania Region (ESEAOR) and Ms Phoebe Ryan, IPPF’s Chief of the Australia and New Zealand Office. In Australia, Dr Bermejo has been privileged to meet with Australia’s Minister for International Development and the Pacific, the Hon Pat Conroy. Together, they discussed how Australia can play a leadership role in advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights through Australia’s international development cooperation. Last week, Dr Bermejo and Ms Fukuda visited IPPF’s Member Association in Solomon Islands, the Solomon Islands Planned Parenthood Association (SIPPA). In Solomon Islands, they witnessed SIPPA’s life-saving and critical work delivering sexual and reproductive healthcare on the ground, including mobile outreach in remote communities of Malaita Province. Australia has been a long-standing and critical partner to IPPF, supporting programming to reach women, girls, and marginalized groups across the development–humanitarian continuum around the world, with a particular focus on the Asia Pacific. In December 2022, IPPF and DFAT signed a new four-year global funding agreement for 2023 to 2026, part of which includes dedicated support to programming across the Pacific. AUD 19 million is dedicated as global funding towards the delivery of IPPF’s Strategy 2028, along with a further AUD 5.7 million to support the delivery of IPPF’s Pacific Niu Vaka Strategy, Phase 2. This generous investment will enable IPPF to reach an anticipated 1.8 million people in the Pacific over the next six years with 4.2 million essential sexual and reproductive services. IPPF is proud to stand alongside our Pacific MAs as they continue to advocate for the health and rights of those most underserved and excluded, reaching communities with essential information and high quality, person-centred sexual and reproductive health care.     In 2021, IPPF reached over 72 million people around the world with more than 155 million sexual and reproductive health services and contributed to 121 policy and legislative changes in defence of SRHR. IPPF is grateful for Australia’s ongoing support in enabling this impact. IPPF’s Director General, Alvaro Bermejo shared: “IPPF are delighted to be working with the Australian Government to continue improving the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of women and girls across the globe. We are grateful to them for helping us deliver more services and support at a time when inequalities are deepening, the opposition is growing, and humanitarian crises continue to place the lives of millions, particularly women and girls, at risk. As we look to build the future with our new strategy, continued support from global partners is crucial to achieving a world where everyone has access to sexual and reproductive healthcare. We hope DFAT’s strong global commitment will inspire other global leaders to take action.” For media enquiries, please contact Karmen Ivey on [email protected] or Phoebe Ryan on [email protected]    About the International Planned Parenthood Federation The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is a global service provider and advocate of sexual and reproductive health and rights for all.  For 70 years, IPPF has delivered high-quality sexual and reproductive healthcare and helped advance sexual rights, especially for people with intersectional and diverse needs that are currently unmet. Our Member Associations and partners are independent organizations that are locally owned, which means the support and care they provide is informed by local expertise and context. We advocate for a world where people are provided with the information they need to make informed decisions about their sexual health and bodies. We stand up and fight for sexual and reproductive rights and against those who seek to deny people their human right to bodily autonomy and freedom. We deliver care that is rooted in rights, respect, and dignity - no matter what.

The Guttmacher Institute has today released new data showing the impact of the UK aid cuts on sexual and reproductive health and rights for the fiscal year 2021 - 2022.  The figures show the devastating impact on the lives of women and girls around the world. Together with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the cuts threaten to undo years of progress towards gender equality and increasing access to reproductive choice. When surveyed, major sexual and reproductive health organizations reported they expected to receive at least £218.9 million in the fiscal year (FY) 2021–2022 (from April 2021 to March 2022) for family planning activities in low- and middle-income countries. The resulting cuts to the family planning programs of these major program-implementing organizations are estimated to have totalled £132.4 million in FY 2021–2022. The loss of funding will result in: 9.5 million fewer women and couples receiving contraceptive services  4.3 million more unintended pregnancies 1.8 million more unplanned births 1.4 million more unsafe abortions and 8000 more maternal deaths  The figures also show how much could have been achieved through sustained UK aid spending.  IPPF’s Director-General, Dr Alvaro Bermejo, said:   “The Guttmacher figures are a harrowing, but sadly unsurprising, insight into the catastrophic impact that the UK aid cuts will have on the health and lives of millions of women, girls and marginalized people across the globe, and serve to confirm what sexual and reproductive health charities have been saying since they were first made aware of the cuts. “We must also remember that the Guttmacher numbers are just a snapshot of the 2021 – 2022 fiscal year, and the effects of the Government’s sudden and short-sighted termination of support will stretch far beyond that, piling unthinkable pressure on people already dealing with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, and leading to millions of unintended pregnancies and thousands of preventable deaths. “With the upcoming spending review in November, we ask the UK Government to reconsider the cuts, which IPPF still believe to be outside of the boundaries of the law, and reinstate the 0.7% commitment, so that it can finally deliver on its promises to the millions of people it chose to abandon.” IPPF also signed on to a joint letter from the UK SRHR Network. For media inquiries please contact [email protected]