WUNRN
This
is the third International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) held by the
Gates Institute. The November 2013 conference will be co-hosted by The Bill
& Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health at Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Federal Ministry of Health of
Ethiopia with a multitude of international and national partners. In 2009
the first conference was held in Kampala, Uganda and convened more than 1,300
participants around this topic for the first time in twenty years and
influenced positive change for family planning policies in Uganda. The second
conference was held in 2011 in Dakar, Senegal and had over 2,200 participants
and highlighted family planning issues in Francophone Africa. Ethiopia was
selected for the third International Conference because of the country’s
strong commitment to family planning and the success they have had in
increasing access to family planning, 100% increase in their modern
contraceptive prevalence rate (from 15% in 2005 to 29% in 2011) and also the
success of their cost effective health extension workers program. The
ICFP is more than a conference; it is a movement and a platform for strategic
inflection points in the family planning agenda. The theme for 2013 will be
Full Access, Full Choice.
Since the first conference on family planning took place in 2009 the issue has gained a lot of momentum. The London Summit on Family Planning took place on July 11, 2012 and 69 countries made commitments to family planning. Many countries have held their own family planning symposiums to develop strategies to achieve commitments made during the London Summit. The ICFP will provide a platform to highlight successes that have been achieved in family planning around the world as well as hurdles that still need to be addressed.
The conference program will include an opening reception, daily plenaries, a number of interactive skill-building sessions, panel presentations, poster sessions, a policymaker forum and an exhibit area. National and international journalists will be invited to report on the event. In addition, we anticipate many satellite events such as skill-building workshops, receptions and meetings. An audience of 3,000-4,000 participants is expected including researchers, program managers, policymakers, and representatives from international donor organizations and foundations, including many young people and newly emerging leaders in the field of family planning and reproductive health.
The official languages of the conference will be English and French.
International Steering Committee:
Abt Associates, Advance Family Planning, African Institute for Development Policy, African Population and Health Research Center, The Aspen Institute, AWLN, Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health, Center for Communication Programs, Concern Worldwide US, Inc., DKT International, DSW, EngenderHealth, FHI 360, Futures Group, Futures Institute, Global Health Strategies, Guttmacher, Ibis Reproductive Health, IBP Consortium, ICF International, International Center for Research on Women, International Council on Management of Population Programmes, IntraHealth, Institute for Reproductive Health/Georgetown University, IPAS, Jhpiego, John Snow International, Management Sciences for Health, Measure Demographic and Health Surveys, MLE, Measurement, Learning & Evaluation Project, Partners in Population and Development-ARO, Pathfinder International, Population Action International, Population Council, Population Reference Bureau, PSI, UN Population Division, Union for African Population Studies (UAPS), Women Deliver, World Bank, World Health Organization