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Press Release

UNDER EMBARGO until 1130 hours MST 11 July 2012 (0500 GST)

Myanmar, UK and UNFPA Reiterate Commitment to Support Family Planning

NAY PYI TAW, Myanmar, 11 July 2012 The Government of the Republic of Myanmarincreased the budget for health and the Department of Health created a budget line for

contraceptives to improve the health of mothers and children, and the United Kingdom and

other donors will provide new funding to accelerate achievement of health MDGs, officials

announced today at a press conference marking the London Summit on Family Planning.

The UKs development agencyDepartment for International Development (DFID), Marie Stopes

International and UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, organized the press briefing to

support the Family Planning Summits call for more concerted and collaborative efforts to

satisfy unmet need for voluntary family planning services, prevent unintended pregnancies and

abortion, and reduce maternal and infant mortality.

Currently some 215 million women in developing countries want to space their children and

avoid unwanted pregnancies, but lack effective modern contraceptives. Yet funding for family

planning has been curtailed, and many low income countries find themselves without adequate

supplies of contraceptives.

The UK is committed to improving maternal and child health globally and in Myanmar, noted

Paul Whittingham, DFID Director for Myanmar. The British Prime Minister is today hosting the

London Summit on Family Planning, where partners from across the world will come together

to support the right of women and girls to decide, freely and for themselves, whether, when

and how many children they have.

The summits goal is two - fold: sustain family planning information and services for 260 million

women; and meet the contraceptive needs of an additional 120 million women in the worlds

poorest countries by 2020. This investment is expected to save lives of 200,000 women and

girls and three million infants.

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Mr. Whittingham said his Government intends to contribute 80 million over the next four

years to the multi-donor Three MDG Fund for health. Through this contribution, the UK will

help avert 153,000 unwanted pregnancies and ensure that 57,500 women receive antenatal

care visits, he stated.

Family planning, or as termed in Myanmar by the Ministry of Health, birth-spacing, is aboutsaving lives, and protecting mothers and children from death, ill health, disability and

underdevelopment. As a key component of reproductive health, access to birth-spacing

information, commodities and services is a fundamental right for every woman and community

if they are to develop to their full potentials. Marie Stopes International in Myanmar, with the

leadership of the Department of Health, and together with local and international NGOs,

serves to improve access to those needs for the communities in Myanmar particularly the

underserved. noted Dr. Sid Naing, Director, Marie Stopes International in Myanmar.

Over the past 30 years, UNFPA has supported reproductive health programmes in Myanmar in

partnership with the Ministry of Health and NGOs, and has been the main supplier of

contraceptives to the country. Despite that support, Mr. Abdel-Ahad, UNFPA Representative for

Myanmar noted, Nearly one fourth of Myanmar marriedwomen of reproductive age would

like to practise contraception but do not have the means to do so. He said efforts by the

Government and development partners to ensure the availability of modern contraceptives are

critical to preventing unsafe abortion, the leading cause of maternal death and disability in the

country.

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For more information, please contact:

Mr. Mohamed Abdel-Ahad, UNFPA Representative, ahad@unfpa.org, tel. +95 1 546 309

Mr. Paul Whittingham, Director of DFID for Myanmar,P-Whittingham@dfid.gov.uk, tel:

mobile 0951 38126

Dr. Ko Ko Naing, Director, International Health Division, Ministry of Health,

tel +95 67 411355,dr.kokonaing@gmail.com

Dr. Sid Naing, Country Director, Marie Stopes International in Myanmar,

sidnaing@mariestopes.org.mm, tel + 951 544423, mobile 095012478

mailto:P-Whittingham@dfid.gov.ukmailto:P-Whittingham@dfid.gov.ukmailto:P-Whittingham@dfid.gov.ukmailto:dr.kokonaing@gmail.commailto:dr.kokonaing@gmail.commailto:dr.kokonaing@gmail.commailto:sidnaing@mariestopes.org.mmmailto:sidnaing@mariestopes.org.mmmailto:sidnaing@mariestopes.org.mmmailto:dr.kokonaing@gmail.commailto:P-Whittingham@dfid.gov.uk