Planned Parenthood Launches “Planned Parenthood Global”

Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) announced today the launch of “Planned Parenthood Global,” a new phase of international programs.

For 40 years, PPFA has worked with partner organizations in developing countries, providing financial and technical support for women’s health care delivery and advocacy.

Changing the name of PPFA’s international division to Planned Parenthood Global signifies a new era for the program, concentrating on targeted partnerships and the development of pioneering models that can be replicated and scaled up by others.

“We are an incubator; seeking innovative solutions from our partners on the ground and helping those ideas grow into national advocacy and health care campaigns,” said Latanya Mapp Frett, PPFA’s vice president – Global.

PPFA’s international division began in 1971, as Family Planning International Assistance (FPIA), with a grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to help improve reproductive health care delivery around the world.  In its early stages, the project operated in dozens of countries throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America.  The groundbreaking FPIA program dissolved in the 1980s when President Reagan first imposed the “global gag rule” on U.S. foreign aid.  Since then, PPFA has scaled back its global programming, focusing on partnerships in select countries in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa, where the need is the greatest.  The partners of Planned Parenthood Global work in places often overlooked by local governments and international aid agencies, from urban slums to rural river communities.

Headquartered in New York City, Planned Parenthood Global currently supports partnerships in 10 countries — Costa Rica, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kenya, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Peru, Sudan and South Sudan — and maintains regional offices in Miami and Nairobi, Kenya.  In Washington, Planned Parenthood Global monitors issues of U.S. foreign policy.

As part of the program launch, Planned Parenthood Global released Health Has No Borders, a brochure detailing global projects, partnerships and models.

For more information visit www.plannedparenthood.org/global.