Improving sexual and reproductive health outcomes in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Zambia

In 2018, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) launched the UK aid funded Women’s Integrated Sexual Health (WISH) programme to improve equitable access to contraceptives and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), prioritising the most underserved women and particularly adolescent girls, the most economically disadvantaged, and marginalised populations in 16 countries across Asia and Africa.

Options’ role in the IPPF-led programme has been to work with governments and civil society partners in seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia to promote increased public investment in SRHR through evidence, advocacy and accountability.

COVID-19 has tested WISH’s adaptive programming model, which took steps to minimise interruptions to routine SRH services during the pandemic and helped built system resilience.

These stories of change share lessons learned on how WISH’s focus on developing an enabling environment has contributed to better SRH and family planning outcomes in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Zambia, where the programme’s work has recently been completed, and focus on the themes of intersectionality, resilience and working in partnership.