On 16 August 2023, Japanese House of Representatives member Dr Toshiko Abe visited head office and the Adolescent and Youth Friendly Services Centre of IPPF’s Member Association in Mozambique, the Associação Moçambicana para Desenvolvimento da Família (AMODEFA). Dr Abe visited one of AMODEFA’s eight youth centres in a particularly marginalised and high poverty density area, where youth friendly health services is difficult to reach for the local youth who need them most. Their youth centre functions as the hub of youth target activities such as provision of a range of services from HIV testing and treatment to SRHR counselling and other information and services around sexual health and rights. In 2022 23.57 % of AMODEFA’s family planning services were provided to clients under 20 years. AMODEFA was established in 1989 and has been IPPF’s Full Member Association since 2010. It is an independent, non-profit, and non-governmental association working in 10 provinces in Mozambique. As the leading service provider in Mozambique, AMODEFA provides comprehensive and diverse sexual and reproductive health, including that related to SGBV. Their focus is on vulnerable people such as women, girls, people with disabilities.

IPPF is overjoyed at the Irish people’s decision to remove the harmful ‘8th Amendment’ from Ireland’s constitution with today’s referendum result.   IPPF’s Director General, Dr Alvaro Bermejo said: “ We wholeheartedly welcome this vote for change, which makes it possible for the Irish Parliament to legalise abortion care on a woman’s own indication in the first trimester of pregnancy, in line with the many other countries around the world which ensure women can access safe and legal abortion care when they need it.”   Caroline Hickson, IPPF’s European Network Regional Director, said: “As an Irishwoman, I know the 8th Amendment has harmed countless women physically, emotionally and psychologically for more than 30 years. The vote to remove it paves the way for a more compassionate and caring environment for women in Ireland. They will no longer be forced to access abortion outside the state or resort to unsafe and unregulated use of abortion pills obtained online and outside the law. Instead, women and girls who experience crisis pregnancies will be able to make personal, private decisions about their health care with the support of their doctors and loved ones. They will be able to receive proper care, in their country, when they are at their most vulnerable.”   Dr Alvaro Bermejo added: “Ireland’s decision sends a signal around Europe and the world that people’s care and compassion can triumph over absolutism and coercion. We hope that it also gives courage to women and all those who support their fight against reproductive coercion in so many other places, and to all those countries where the Global Gag Rule is having a devastating impact on access to sexual and reproductive health care. For all women everywhere, it’s time to end forced full pregnancy and make abortion care safe, legal and accessible. Today Ireland has shown us that positive change is possible.”  

In the latest People and Power documentary, the team travel round Mozambique with AMODEFA, to look first-hand at the human impact the Gag rule has had in the country. The Global Gag Rule denies U.S. funding to organisations like IPPF if they use money from other donors to provide abortion services, counselling or referrals—even if abortion is legal in a country. It blocks critical funding for health services like contraception, maternal health, and HIV prevention and treatment for any organisation that refuses to sign it. The documentary talks to AMODEFA clients and staff who have been involved and helped by the US funded health programmes covering young people, HIV and Tuberculosis. AMODEFA faces significant losses to their programming budget of $2 million. Work that has built trust and provided support and treatment for many people who would have been left behind. The documentary spans several provinces, with the team visiting specialised outreach services that go out to the most rural populations. ‘We will have generations that are sick without knowing what they have. They will run the risk of transmitting HIV to other people because they do not know their HIV status,’ says project leader, Dr Marcel Kant. ‘We are condemning our society to live with this illness and there will be a large number of deaths.’ IPPF is working with AMODEFA to find alternative sources of funding. Executive Director Santos Simione, is working tirelessly with his team to ensure AMODEFA’s works continues, “We must be resilient! This also means being resilient to ensure that the progress made in sexual and reproductive health and rights continues and the provision of services minimizes the suffering of our population, particularly adolescents and young people, women and children”. The team Read more about AMODEFA's tireless work in Mozambique