Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR – Good Neighbors, an international humanitarian development iNGO founded in South Korea, signed a memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Lao PDR, providing 100,000 USD to support the Ministry of Health and Vientiane Youth Centre to provide Adolescents and Youth Friendly Services (AYFS) through public facilities as well as mobile clinics to schools and communities in Xay district, Oudomxay province, Lao PDR. 

Ministry of Health in collaboration with UNFPA, the Government of Luxembourg and other Development Partners developed a national guideline for service providers to help create a conducive environment for the provision of youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services to respond to the needs of young people. 

The training have been rolling out since 2018 and the plan is to expand nationwide. Trained service providers offer accurate information, advice, counseling, and services (basic treatment, family planning methods such as condoms, contraceptive pills) to young people. 

Mobile Outreach complements the AYFS where health providers visit certain areas, schools, factories and villages to provide sexuality and reproductive health information and services to reach young people who face some barriers to access or maybe too shy or do not have means to access health facilities. 

According to the 2015 Census, there are over 200,000 people living in Oudomxay province, with 40% of its population are adolescent girls and boys aged 10-19 years. It is recognized that the barriers young people, especially adolescent girls face in obtaining health services are related to availability, accessibility, acceptability, and equity of health services for that particular age group. More specific data in Oudomxay Province also showed that 46% of youth aged 15-17 are currently out of upper secondary school, while 32% of girls aged 15-19 years are currently married/in union and Oudomxay has a significant high adolescent birth rate (105/1000 compared to the national average of 83/1000). Young pregnant girls are proof to have a higher risk of dying during pregnancy and childbirth.

This collaboration between Good neighbors and UNFPA will be launched in the last quarter of 2019 for a year. It is expected that more than 14,000 adolescents and young people currently living in Xay district in Oudomxay province, will be able to access to sexual and reproductive health services in government facilities and through mobile clinics. Ensuring that all women of reproductive age in area where programme activities take place, People living in province where trained midwives and other health service providers are deployed, and communities where mobile clinics are run will benefit indirectly.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

UNFPA is the United Nations reproductive health and rights agency. It is the leading agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA promotes sexual and reproductive health and rights, particularly maternal health, in over 150 countries, as well as working to end harmful practices such as child marriage, and supporting population data collection and analysis.

For more information, please contact:      

Ms. Kay amphone Singhalath

Telephone: 021 267 680        

Email: Singhalath@unfpa.org      

website: lao.unfpa.org

Follow us on Facebook: UNFPA Laos, Twitter & Youtube: UNFPA Lao PDR