Making SRH services affordable

Family Planning Association of Burkina Faso (FPAF) has worked to provide family planning to the poor and marginalized, and particularly adolescents and young people since 1985.

In 1985, as women and men in Burkina Faso were finding it increasingly difficult to access sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services and supplies, due to rising prices and increasing demand, a group of concerned community members and health professionals came together to establish an organization to address the needs of the poorest people.

Over the years, FPAF has expanded to provide a comprehensive mix of sexual and reproductive health services, including:

• antenatal and post-natal care
• treatment of sexually transmitted infections
• infertility counselling
• screening for cancers of the reproductive system
• post-abortion care
• prevention of mother to child transmission
  (PMTCT) of HIV/AIDS
• provision of anti-retroviral drugs
• Voluntary counselling and testing
• home-based care for people living with HIV/AIDS

We provide specialized services for targeted groups of young people on the streets, people living with HIV/AIDS, and students. We run outreach visits to cement factories and markets,
and to student association meetings or events where FPAF has the opportunity to distribute sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS information.

Professional training is provided to young people living on the street and members of the Youth Action Movement to enable them engage in profitable ventures.

Together with South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and TV5, we plan to raise the visibility of maternal mortality issues in Burkina Faso.

In 2006, ABBEF provided 46,343 services to a client base of people who were all poor and
marginalized.

We have maintained the principles that founded the organization, prioritizing those that fall through the gaps of the public health system.

In 2007, ABBEF received the support of the country’s First Lady, who promised to hold
a meeting of Africa’s First Ladies to discuss the implementation of the Maputo Plan of
Action, which seeks to implement a wide range of interventions to effectively address
sexual and reproductive health in Africa.

As a result of this public recognition, ABBEF
has gained a role as a partner of the respected Pan African Film Festival that is held
every year to promote sexual and reproductive health issues, in particular safe motherhood.

Burkina Faso currently has a female genital cutting prevalence of 66 per cent, a
maternal mortality rate of 1,000 per 100,000 live births, contraceptive prevalence of 9 per cent and an unmet need, among married women of reproductive age, of 25.8 per cent. 

Though daunting, these figures represent a challenge that we have taken in our stride: ABBEF is dedicated to reducing these numbers in the years ahead.

Service delivery points
4 branches (4 regions and 19 communal sections) and 2 clinics

Members of governing body
18 (two members below the age of 25 years)

Staff and volunteers
65 staff and 945 volunteers

Voluntary counselling and testing sites
2

Youth centres
4

Peer educators
10

Partnerships
Government: Ministry of Health
NGOs: SPONG (Coordinates NGO activities), REOPOD (Réseau des ONG en population et développement)
Private Sector: Prestataires de services
Donors: DANIDA, UNFPA, EU, UNICEF, Projet d’Appui au Plan National Multisectoriel de lutte contre le VIH/SIDA (PAPNM)
Networks: Conseil National de Population, Comité
National de Lutte contre la Pratique de l'Excision , Comité consultatif de sélection des projets du service de coopération et d'action culturelle de l'Ambassade de France au Burkina Faso