WHAT WE DO:

Reproductive Health and Family Planning

Around the world, women desire to control the timing and frequency of childbirth for the sake of their own health, and the well being of their children and families. For 50 years, Pathfinder International has worked to promote women’s opportunities to choose when and how often to bear children and to reduce the dangers of death and severe illness they face through pregnancy. By partnering with local governments, NGOs, and community- and faith-based organizations, we create programs that are responsive to the reproductive health needs of local populations.

Pathfinder brings services to isolated rural areas by training community members to function as volunteer health workers and by creating referral networks. We improve and expand existing services in both urban and rural areas by renovating clinics and training health care providers to offer a wider range of services and contraceptive choices.

Featured Projects

	Ethiopia: Family Planning and Reproductive Health Services: Partnering with local organizations to support family planning and reproductive health activities in some of Ethiopia's most isolated areas.

	India: PRACHAR: Reaching young couples with knowledge of the dangers of adolescent childbirth and the importance of spacing pregnancies.

	Ghana: Obstetric Fistula Prevention and Treatment: Raising fistula awareness; increasing the availability and accessibility of fistula prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation services.

	Viet Nam: The Reproductive Health Projects: A network of projects working to improve the quality and range of reproductive health services available through the Vietnamese public sector.

Featured Publication

Reproductive Health of Young Adults in India: The Road to Public Health, 2006 This report describes the Reproductive Health of Young Adults in India (RHEYA) project, which worked to delay early marriage, increase the use of contraception by young couples to delay the first child and space subsequent children, and to reduce the use of abortion as a method of contraception.

More Publications: Family Planning and Contraception

More Publications: Maternal and Child Health

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Reaching the Underserved: Buzayo Rata introduces family planning and fights harmful traditional practices in Ethiopia.

Pathfinder/Peru Announces 2007 Anonymous Heroes—Saving Women's Lives Award: Organization honored for efforts to save women's lives in Peru.