Social Marketing Project inaugurated [Archives:2006/967/Local News]
SANA'A, July 25 ) Marie Stopes International- Yemen, saw the inauguration of its Social Marketing Project (SMP) which is due to last for four years with a total cost of 4.5 million Euros, funded by the German Construction Bank.
In a press conference, SMP Director, Dr. Ashraf Badr said the project is part of a Yemeni-German Reproductive Health Project (YGRHP). “Training society is our main goal,” he noted.
The YGRHP trained 18 midwives from Sana'a and Amran with the aim of fostering the use of modern techniques in family planning. The training focused on poor families, by training health service providers such as clinics, pharmacies and midwives, in addition to spreading health awareness amongst communities.
Badr emphasized that the programs target midwives, physicians, pharmacists and sale agents of family planning means. “In 2006, we are to implement the project in six governorates starting with Sana'a and Amran, and in 2007 the project is due to be implemented throughout Yemen,” he added. “Trainees will be trained on how to provide consultation services and support to members of the society, meanwhile the project plans to modify behavior of the society towards the best and improve the skills of medics.”
Dr. Arwa Al-Rabe'e, Deputy Minister of Public Health and Population, viewed the project as a new initiative for training the private sector on family planning. She revealed that 65 percent of Yemeni women don't use any family planning means due to false rumors implying that they are unreliable.
According to Al-Rabe'e, health indicators concerning maternal mortality at birth still raise concerns, despite several improvements in the health sector. She said that her ministry's strategy stressed joint efforts with the private sector in order to achieve their goals, and insisted that every citizen has the right to ask the Ministry of Public Health and Population for their preferred means of family planning.
Marie Stopes International-Yemen began the social marketing of the use of condoms in 2004, to be then awarded by the Ministry of Public Health and Population in 2005.
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