Embassy Recent Events
Family Planning Event
U.S./Malian Partnership in Support of Family Planning
On April 9, 2009, the Government of Mali, in the presence of the Prime Minister and the U.S. Ambassador, officially launched the fifth edition of the nationwide Campaign for the Promotion of Family Planning in Mali. Over the past five years, USAID has invested close to $69 million in support of family planning programs in Mali. The U.S. Government, through USAID, supports the training of reproductive health service providers, which covers family planning, and of supervisors as well. Overall, USAID provides around 80% of contraceptives distributed across Mali.
Since 2004, Mali, in partnership with the donor community, has embarked on a robust family planning promotion campaign. The campaign enhances the visibility of Family Planning services and motivates stakeholders to engage more fully in the project. April 9, 2009 marked the official launch of The theme for this year’s campaign was “Strengthening Leadership for Family Planning: We all are engaged’’ with a specific emphasis on men’s role in this matter.
Present at the ceremony were Prime Minister Modibo Sidibé, U.S. Ambassador Gillian A. Milovanovic, several members of the Malian government, including the Minister of Health, representatives of the donor community in Mali and a multitude of stakeholders in this important effort. In his keynote address, the Prime Minister underscored the major challenges such as a low prevalence of contraceptive use in Mali (6.9%) and the high maternal mortality rate (464 reported cases of death for every 1,000 birth). “These figures call on our collective consciousness and require that actions be initiated to address this phenomenon”, said the Prime Minister who added that “reproductive health as a whole and family planning in particular are key priorities for the government of Mali.” He called on everyone, including musicians and artists, to help disseminate family planning messages everywhere from this moment.
The highlight of the event was the address by the U.S. Ambassador to Mali, Gillian A Milovanovic. Ambassador Milovanovic indicated that since 2004, “ the US Government, through USAID, has invested about US $ 69 millions to promote family planning and maternal health in Mali”, making USAID the largest contributor for family planning.
Giving a personal touch to her speech, the Ambassador further engaged men to show more support for family planning by pointing to a banner which read “Men, your involvement is key to promoting family planning.” She further warned that “my interest in family planning should not be mistaken for my being a woman and a mother. My interest stems from my conclusion that development in Mali and the quality of life for Malians depend largely on family planning and maternal and child health.”
Other speakers at the event included Oumar Ibrahima Touré, Minister of Health of Mali, and the representative of the United Nations Fund for Population Affairs (UNFPA).
A presentation by the USAID-funded Health Policy Project on the RAPID II model, a system for population analysis and assessment of population impact on development as well as sketches performed by the Youth Project and songs dedicated by the Ensemble Instrumental national of Mali to Family Planning, captivated the audience and reinforced the message of the importance of spacing the births of children in a family .