ICFP + Advocacy & Accountability

The Faith Community Is Key to Universal Access
Faith is a fundamental part of life for people across the globe. Research shows that worldwide, more than eight in ten people identify with a religion. More importantly for improving family planning access in underserved areas, over 90 percent of people in countries with an unmet need for family planning – such as Ethiopia, Senegal, Indonesia, Uganda, Pakistan, Burkina Faso and Tanzania – consider religion a very important part of who they are.  Therefore, it’s absolutely necessary that these communities are able to see that family planning is consistent with their faith values and supports healthy families.

Faith Leaders as Influential Advocates
Religious leaders are well respected and influential with their communities and policymakers, making them ideal advocates for sensitive issues such as family planning and reproductive health. Two recent studies underscore the evidence of faith leader influence in taking up healthy behaviors. A study showed educating religious leaders in Tanzania about the benefits of male circumcision in reducing the likelihood of HIV transmission had a substantial effect on circumcision uptake by men in the community. Likewise, an analysis of a project in Kenya that appeared in the peer-reviewed journal Global Health: Science and Practice shows further evidence of the influence of faith leaders on family planning uptake.

Faith-based Health Providers Reach Far and Wide
Faith-based health providers are major health care providers around the world. In 2015, The Lancet explored the reach and quality of faith-based health providers, which provide 20 to 70 percent of medical care in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to the Lancet series, evidence indicates that the faith-based providers give care without prejudice to people of all faiths and the populations they serve have a high opinion of the care they receive.