|
|
|
|
| Project Name: | Extra Mile Initiative |
| Project Description: |
| One of CARE Madagascar's largest project zones, the zone covered under its USAID-funded Title II project on the East Coast, includes over 50 rural communes, many of them largely inaccessible due to mountainous terrain, lack of roads and frequent flooding and cyclones. Rural residents must travel long distances by foot to reach rural health centers where lack of resources, infrastructure, and personnel limit the availability of basic services. Not surprisingly, this has a direct impact on livelihood and health security. Food insecurity and rates of malnutrition are high. And family planning indicators also reflect a paucity of health information and services: a baseline survey conducted in the zone in 2003 found that 76% of births occur at less than the optimal spacing; over 20% of women of reproductive age (WRA) have no knowledge of any type of contraceptive method, and less than 30% of WRA have ever used any type of contraception. Approximately 40% of both men and women cited lack of information about family planning methods and services as a main reason for not using them. Because of the importance of family planning for improving overall health indicators in areas such as those where CARE works, and due also to CARE's commitment to reaching largely underserved rural populations, USAID/Madagascar has selected CARE as a partner in the implementation of its "Extra Mile Initiative," an initiative that aims to reduce the inequities in FP access, method choice, and information. USAID's Extra Mile strategy also focuses on priority conservation areas, recognizing the links between population pressure and pressure on the environment--a critical question in light of Madagascar's rapidly disappearing forests.Taking advantage of community structures, partnerships, and project resources already established under existing activities, CARE’s Extra Mile Initiative (EMI) is an expansion of activities aimed at increasing awareness and access to family planning services in 5 rural communes in the region of Analanjirofo. These activities will be complementary to current projects already underway in the targeted zones of intervention. Improvements in family planning will be achieved through a combination of community planning, specialized targeting identifying the poorest families not able to utilize existing family planning, IEC, and an expansion of existing community-based distribution schemes. The addition of family planning to CARE's other health activities in the five communes will offer beneficiaries a more complete package in the area of community health. |
|
|
