Cairo, Egypt, 28 July - The United Nations Population Fund Arab States Regional Office (UNFPA ASRO), today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the International Planned Parenthood Federation Arab World Region (IPPF AWR) to work towards ending preventable maternal deaths and unmet needs for family planning by meeting the sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights (SRHR) needs of women in the Arab states region.

Building on the previous achievements, the new partnership between the co-founders of the Arab World advocacy Network (AWAN) for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Reproductive Rights, will help advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Agenda and the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action through developing joint regional SRH initiatives aiming at strengthening family planning services, reproductive health commodity security (RHCS), comprehensive sexuality education, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention, and the provision of SRH services in humanitarian emergencies.

“We are glad to have this partnership with the International Planned Parenthood Federation to help us achieve UNFPA's three transformative results - ending preventable maternal deaths, ending unmet need for family planning and ending gender-based violence and harmful practices. Achieving these results is a precondition to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals.  Through greater collaboration with strategic partners like IPPF, we will be able to ensure that every woman and girl can live free of discrimination and exercise her right to sexual and reproductive health even in humanitarian settings and during crises such as COVID-19.” said UNFPA ASRO Regional Director, Dr. Luay Shabaneh.

“The whole world is concerned about the impacts of COVID-19 on development and economy. Today, our visions became united and we are all working on promoting sustainable development as a common goal. We also uphold the right to reproductive health as a pillar of development, and we believe that our partnership with UNFPA will advance development in the Arab states, given that developing countries are those that ensure reproductive health for all. So our motto for this partnership is: reproductive health, a priority for development." said IPPF AWR Regional Director, Ms. Fadoua Bakhadda.

This agreement aims to enhance regional discourse on sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as a human right by engaging with ministers, parliamentarians, the private sector and civil society to work on initiatives and policies that ensure sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights and informed choices for all, including women, girls, youth, migrants and persons with disabilities in development and humanitarian settings.

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For more information, please contact:

Rose Marie Gad, Communications Analyst, the United Nations Population Fund for the Arab States Region, gad@unfpa.org, +201021767215

Salwa Jaouadi, External Affairs, Media and Communication Coordinator, International Planned Parenthood Federation Arab World Region - Tunis Office, sjaouadi@ippf.org, +216 71 847 344