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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Hopkins Consortium Awarded $14 Million for Indonesian ProgramA Johns Hopkins University consortium led by the Center for Communication Programs (JHU/CCP) and JHPIEGO has been awarded a 3-year $14 million cooperative agreement by USAID in Indonesia. The program, called STARH (Sustaining Technical Achievements in Reproductive Health/Family Planning), will focus on developing Indonesia's capacity to provide high-quality family planning and reproductive health services with special attention to the newly decentralized Indonesian health care delivery system. Already a maturing program in Indonesia, family planning is used by nearly 30 million women. Now, however, family planning and reproductive health programs must confront the new challenges of economic and political instability , internally displaced populations, and major government reorganization, including the decentralized health care system. Both JHU/CCP and JHPIEGO have been working in Indonesia in the last 15 years on a variety of programs including family planning, reproductive health, maternal and neonatal health, and safe motherhood. JHU/CCP is also assisting in implementing the country's leading health sector reform program, Healthy Indonesia 2010. "This will be a wonderful opportunity for the JHU consortium to work with our Indonesian counterparts," said Jose Rimon, a Project Director at JHU/CCP. "Together we will work to transform the highly regarded program into a leading provider of high quality reproductive health services which are responsive to the changing needs and preferences of Indonesian consumers." Phyllis T. Piotrow, Director of JHU/CCP said, "We are particularly pleased that Gary Lewis, Chief of Research and Evaluation at JHU/CCP will be going to Indonesia as Chief of Party for STARH." The STARH consortium, which will be partnering with local institutions, will work with national and community-based non-governmental organizations in close consultation with the National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN), the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Women Empowerment, to train health providers in family planning counseling, standards of quality, logistics management, policy development, advocacy and data analysis. The grant will also support communication activities to increase awareness and knowledge about high quality services both among providers and users of family planning. In addition to the changing political landscape, Indonesia presents some important reproductive health challenges. While more than 50% of married women of childbearing ages in Indonesia use family planning, nearly one fourth (24%) of new users discontinue during the first year. Inadequate counseling, the lack of availability of a range of family planning methods, method failures and health concerns are principal causes of discontinued use. The STARH program is designed to address these specific issues. For more information contact: Timothy Cline at Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, Maryland 21202, USA. Tel: 410 659-6149; Fax: 410 659-6266; e-mail: press@jhuccp.org. Web Site: www.jhuccp.org. |
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