E2A at ICFP: January 27, 2016

On the evening of January 27, at the International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP), in Nusa Dua, Indonesia, E2A, with Pathfinder International, FHI 360, Marie Stopes International, and Population Services International, held a satellite session—A Celebration of Young People’s Right to Full Choice—which unveiled and celebrated a new Global Consensus Statement supporting the expansion of contraceptive choice for young people to include long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs). 

The Consensus Statement calls for the provision of evidence-based information to policy makers, ministry representatives, program managers, service providers, communities, family members, and young people on the safety, effectiveness, reversibility, cost-effectiveness, acceptability, and the health and non-health benefits of contraceptive options, including LARCs. It notes that LARCs are highly effective contraceptive methods, and points out that both the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Academy of Pediatrics have issued statements affirming that LARCs are safe and appropriate for adolescents.

The statement was unveiled after a day at ICFP where hundreds of young leaders gathered alongside policymakers, advocates and scientists to discuss the critical role of youth and adolescents in the family planning movement.

Three other E2A presentations focused on youth today.

Part of a pre-formed panel, Murtala Mai, E2A’s Director of Field Support  (on behalf of Fariyal Fikree, E2A’s Senior Research Advisor) presented new evidence from a study in Ethiopia that showed the effectiveness of empowering youth-friendly service providers to provide LARCs in a one-stop-shop to youth. Regina Benevides, E2A’s Senior Youth Advisor, presented “Strategic Planning Tools for Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health” at an IBP workshop and on scaling contraceptive information to young people during an IBP panel.

Other presentations made at ICFP today on E2A activities included:

Catapulting Tanzania into a Middle-Income Country: Demographic Dividend Study (by Pasiens Mapunda)

Transitioning from Pilot to Scale – Challenges and Successes of ‘Beginning with the End in Mind’ (by Laura Ghiron)

Preparing Postpartum Family Planning for Scale: Connecting Community- and Facility-Based Health Workforce with Stakeholder Support (by Mildred Latigo)

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