Government signs Compact with UNFPA to increase contraceptives supply

 By Umar Weswala:

Country Rep. Mary Otieno signed on behalf of UNFPA

The government of Uganda has signed a Compact with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) under the UNFPA Supplies Partnership, aimed at increasing the supply of modern contraceptives and lifesaving maternal health medicines in the country. This is in addition to the past and recent pledges and commitments made by the government both at local and international fora.

The compact was signed on 10^th May 2023 at Sheraton Hotel Kampala by the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Hon. Matia Kasaija and the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Health Dr. Diana Atwine on behalf of the government of Uganda, and the Country Representative Dr. Mary Otieno on behalf of UNFPA.

Minister Kasaija signed on behalf of the gov't of Uganda

At the signing ceremony, the Minister Kasaija said that, the compact agreement is an emphasis of Uganda’s commitments to invest in overall health and wellbeing of the Ugandans, and specifically for family planning as a key intervention to address the unfavorable demographics as the country journeys to the middle income status.

“The government of Uganda recognizes the contribution of family planning in the social and economic transformation of the country and the realization of Uganda’s vision 2040 with the goal of transforming the country from a predominantly low income economy to a competitive upper middle income country” the minister said.

Representatives of gov't and development partners at
the compact signing ceremony

In 1994, at the International Conference on Population and Development known as ICPD Cairo, Uganda was among the 179 governments that adopted a revolutionary program of Action and called for women’s reproductive health and rights to take center stage in national and global development efforts.

At the 2017 Family Planning Summit in London, and later the ICPD@25 summit inNairobi in 2019, Uganda committed to increase financial support towards reproductive health and family planning supplies and commodities to the last mile.

According to minister Kasaija, the government remains committed to its commitments as demonstrated in the ongoing interventions.

“Investments in family planning are aligned to the national strategies like the Parish Development Model that is aiming at transforming the homesteads that are still in the subsistence economy to join the money economy” he said.

Permanent Secretary Diana Atwine signing the Compact

According to the 2016 Uganda Demographic Health Survey (UDHS 2016), the modern Contraceptive Prevalence Rate increased from 18.2% in 2001 to 34.8% in 2016.

The unmet need for family planning reduced from 35% to 28% for all women while the total fertility rate reduced from 6.9 to 5.4 over the same period.

The minister acknowledged that all the above progress has been realized with continued support from UNFPA among other development partners.

The UNFPA Country Representative Mary Otieno applauded the government of Uganda for its commitment to increase funding for family planning commodities by an additional 3 billion shillings in the fiscal year 2023/24 and its overall commitments to the family planning program as stated in the Uganda FP2030 commitments.

She however noted that despite the progress made so far, about 3 out of 10 women in Uganda who want to avoid pregnancy are not using modern contraceptives.

“They are left behind because formidable barriers to reproductive health continue to persist in matters of policy, finance, socio-cultural norms, strained health systems, inadequate services and weak supply chains” she said.

According to her, the Compact offers a means for the government of Uganda to honour these commitments while fostering an increase in domestic financing for the procurement of contraceptives and maternal health commodities.

UNFPA Uganda participates in the UNFPA Global Supplies Partnership program and each year, contributes over 40% of the overall national family planning commodity budget which is worth US$6 million.

These supplies are managed by the Ministry of Health, which provides oversight to their warehousing, distribution and utilization by the population.

How will the compact work?

The compact marks a shift away from a model of product donation to one of product subsidization. For the case of Uganda, the Compact implies that for every $100 contributed by UNFPA towards the annual procurement budget of contraceptives, the government of Uganda will contribute $1 of its domestic finances towards the procurement of the same. This contribution will increase by 1% point every year.

The compact also provides an opportunity for the government of Uganda to participate in the match funding modality where any additional where any additional domestic financing contribution that exceeds the 1% by the government is matched by an equivalent contribution from UNFPA to a tune of up to US$1.5 million.