Advocacy and Policy

EngenderHealth engages at three levels – locally, globally, and in the United States – to influence evidence-based policy change that will lead to lasting improvements in reproductive health care and access to services.

In countries where work, we collaborate locally with both the public and private sectors to advocate for policies that support individuals’ rights to safe, effective reproductive health care. In some instances, we identify policies impeding access to reproductive health care, and we work to change them. We also lend our expertise to refining medical standards and guidelines to improve client care.

At the global level, in concert with colleague organizations, we identify promising new approaches and technologies, promote best practices, develop standards and policies needed to advance and sustain services, and mobilize support for reproductive health care among the global health community, governments, and donors.

In the United States, we advocate for the U.S. government’s continued investment in family planning and reproductive health, and work to ensure that its decisions and policies are informed by evidence, are appropriate, and will indeed advance individuals’ health and well-being.

Examples of our recent advocacy and policy activities include:

• Documenting the harmful impact of the Mexico City Policy, or “Global Gag Rule.” This effort resulted in a publication called Access Denied (co-authored with Population Action International and Pathfinder International) that circulated widely among leaders in Washington, D.C.
• Demonstrating for U.S. legislators and policy makers how decisions made in Washington affect lives around the world. In September, 2007, we arranged a Congressional delegation’s visit to a family planning clinic in Ghana, where members saw first-hand how the Global Gag Rule impedes service delivery. The visit also reinforced the need for ongoing investment in family planning programs.
• Opening journalists’ eyes to the magnitude of need for family planning in developing countries. In September 2006, EngenderHealth led a team of U.S. journalists and opinion leaders to Ethiopia here they saw the role that high quality family planning and reproductive health services play in the lives of people on the other side of the world – and the need for people back home to understand the value of these services.