The Director General of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Dr Alvaro Bermejo, is in Australia this week for high level meetings with Australian Government Ministers and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). He is joined by Ms. Tomoka Fukuda, Regional Director of IPPF’s East and Southeast Asia and Oceania Region (ESEAOR) and Ms. Phoebe Ryan, IPPF’s Chief of the Australia and New Zealand Office.
In Australia, Dr Bermejo has been privileged to meet with Australia’s Minister for International Development and the Pacific, the Hon Pat Conroy. Together, they discussed how Australia can play a leadership role in advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights through Australia’s international development cooperation.
Last week, Dr Bermejo and Ms. Fukuda visited IPPF’s Member Association in Solomon Islands, the Solomon Islands Planned Parenthood Association (SIPPA). In Solomon Islands, they witnessed SIPPA’s life-saving and critical work delivering sexual and reproductive healthcare on the ground, including mobile outreach in remote communities of Malaita Province.
Australia has been a long-standing and critical partner to IPPF, supporting programming to reach women, girls, and marginalized groups across the development–humanitarian continuum around the world, with a particular focus on the Asia Pacific.
In December 2022, IPPF and DFAT signed a new four-year global funding agreement for 2023 to 2026, part of which includes dedicated support to programming across the Pacific. AUD 19 million is dedicated as global funding towards the delivery of IPPF’s Strategy 2028, along with a further AUD 5.7 million to support the delivery of IPPF’s Pacific Niu Vaka Strategy, Phase 2.
This generous investment will enable IPPF to reach an anticipated 1.8 million people in the Pacific over the next six years with 4.2 million essential sexual and reproductive services. IPPF is proud to stand alongside our Pacific MAs as they continue to advocate for the health and rights of those most underserved and excluded, reaching communities with essential information and high quality, person-centered sexual and reproductive health care.
In 2021, IPPF reached over 72 million people around the world with more than 155 million sexual and reproductive health services and contributed to 121 policy and legislative changes in defense of SRHR. IPPF is grateful for Australia’s ongoing support in enabling this impact.
IPPF’s Director General, Alvaro Bermejo shared:
“IPPF are delighted to be working with the Australian Government to continue improving the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of women and girls across the globe. We are grateful to them for helping us deliver more services and support at a time when inequalities are deepening, the opposition is growing, and humanitarian crises continue to place the lives of millions, particularly women and girls, at risk.
REF: https://www.ippf.org/news/ippfs-director-general-visits-solomon-islands-and-australia
