U.S. Government Increases Funding for Uganda’s Family Planning and Reproductive Health Activities

The U.S. Mission to Uganda announced today that funding for Family Planning and Reproductive Health (FP/RH) activities in Uganda would rise to US$15 million in 2009.  This constitutes a tripling of funding for these activities since 2005.  The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will use the increased resources to support the Government of Uganda in its efforts to increase access to quality health care.   The funds will help improve the health of women – both during and after their pregnancies – and continue USAID’s family planning assistance to Uganda, which spans three decades.

Specifically in Uganda, this funding for family planning and reproductive health activities will:

• enable women and couples to choose the number and spacing of births;
• help reduce maternal and child mortality;
• help reduce the transmission of HIV;
• reduce abortions;
• improve women’s opportunities; 
• enable families to invest in their children and improve their well-being; and
• mitigate the impact of population growth on environment, economy, and state stability.

“This new funding represents President Obama’s commitment to improving access to vital health services for women worldwide,” noted Dr. Scott Radloff, the Director of USAID Washington’s Office of Population and Reproductive Health, who is currently visiting Uganda.  “Among the very first of the President’s actions was to renew U.S. Government commitment to global family planning,” Radloff added “and his administration has followed this policy decision with a number of positive actions that will be felt in countries like Uganda.  Two out of every five Ugandan women want to space their next birth or stop childbearing entirely, and are not using family planning services (2006 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey).  The additional funds will help make these services available to those women.”

“We are united in our determination to prevent unintended pregnancies, reduce the need for abortion, and support women and families in the choices they make,” U.S. President Obama noted earlier this year.  “To accomplish these goals, we must work to find common ground to expand access to affordable contraception, accurate health information, and preventative services…we must also recommit ourselves more broadly to ensuring that our daughters have the same rights and opportunities as our sons: the chance to attain a world-class education; to have fulfilling careers in any industry; to be treated fairly and paid equally for their work; and to have no limits on their dreams.  That is what I want for women everywhere.”