Session: Managing and Sustaining Family Planning and Reproductive Health Programs in the Face of Change: Funding Shifts, Health Reform, and Political Swings

4309.0: Tuesday, November 9, 2004: 4:30 PM-6:00 PM

Oral

Managing and Sustaining Family Planning and Reproductive Health Programs in the Face of Change: Funding Shifts, Health Reform, and Political Swings

In recent years, many countries have seen dramatic changes in both political and financial support for family planning programs. In Latin America and the Caribbean, donor funding has continued a downward trend begun more than ten years ago. In other countries, health reform movements and associated trends such as decentralization and integration have created shocks and challenges that have been met with varying degrees of success in different settings. In the US, government funding restrictions create increasing challenges for state-funded programs to offer quality services to low-income clients who most need them. Meeting financing needs with effective management is one of the key challenges for maintaining and improving reproductive health services in the next several years. Lessons can be learned from both domestic and international experiences in dealing with these issues. This panel will explore regional and national experiences of donor phase-out in Latin America and the Caribbean, managing programs under a newly decentralized system in the Philippines, and creative approaches to maintaining and improving family planning services in Massachusetts in an environment of decreased funding and political change. Findings should help reproductive health managers better understand and address different shocks to the system.

Learning Objectives: By the end of this session participants will be able to articulate how funding shifts, health reform and political changes have impacted international and domestic family planning programs, and describe similarities and differences between different countries discussed.

Moderator(s):

Lisa Hare

4:30 PM

Declining Contraceptive Donations in Latin America and the Caribbean: Assessing Country and Regional Needs