U.S. Committed to Work With Uttar Pradesh Government on Reproductive Health

January 15, 2004

LUCKNOW - Folk entertainment troupes performing qawwali, nautanki, magic and puppetry left America 's highest-ranking diplomat in India enthralled when he visited a U.S. government supported reproductive health project near Lucknow today.

Robert O. Blake, the U.S. Embassy's Charge d'Affaires (Acting Ambassador), visited the training facility of the Non-Conventional Energy Department on Deva-Chinhat road near Lucknow today, where he witnessed how these styles of folk media are used to support reproductive health activities implemented as part of the Innovations in Family Planning Services (IFPS) Project supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Speaking on the occasion, the Chargé stated that USAID plans to build on the successes of the IFPS project, continuing to work with SIFPSA and the government of Uttar Pradesh from 2004 to 2009 to improve the reproductive health status of the state's population. He said such activities have resulted in IFPS project districts increasing the use of modern contraception almost twice as fast as non-project districts, to its current level of 27.3% of married women of reproductive age.

He noted that the four genres of folk media are used in 38 districts of Uttar Pradesh (UP) to inform and educate the people about a wide range of health practices, including family planning, immunization, antenatal care and safe delivery. Over 8,500 such performances have been organized by the State Innovations in Family Planning Services Agency (SIFPSA), the organization managing IFPS project implementation.

Begun in 1992, SIFPSA and IFPS have shown significant results through a wide range of activities that are aimed at improving reproductive health in UP. Today, 38 of the state's districts have the authority to decide about activities most likely to improve reproductive health in their area. Partnerships with Non-Governmental Organizations and select corporate sector entities have significantly increased the use of family planning methods. Additionally, partnerships with several dairy cooperatives in the project districts have contributed to these improvements.

To improve the quality of care offered through public sector providers, the project has trained over 9,000 medical officers and 10,000 auxiliary nurse midwives and lady health visitors in family planning methods. In the past year alone in public facilities, services were provided to over 800,000 clients, with more than 174,000 clients obtaining a terminal method of contraception.

In UP, the project has also increased tetanus toxoid immunization levels among pregnant women from a low of 33% in 1999 to over 62% in 2003, protecting thousands of newborns from neonatal tetanus. In addition, through partnerships with the government of India 's social marketing efforts, IFPS has more than doubled the availability of condoms and oral contraceptives in rural areas. Today, 45% of villages in UP have an outlet selling these contraceptives.