This award, funded by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is enabling Jhpiego to provide technical assistance to ministries of health in 15 countries across Africa and Asia for the planning and introduction of COVID-19 vaccines. Under this effort, Jhpiego supports the ministries of health in a number of countries, including Pakistan, to introduce COVID-19 vaccines. Support includes development of sound, locally relevant, globally compliant readiness assessments using the COVID-19 Vaccine Country Readiness Assessment Tool. This work is being implemented in conjunction with a subpartner, the International Vaccine Access Center of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

This 39-month project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, pairs an implementation science approach with robust advocacy and coordination to introduce, roll out and scale up use of depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA-SC) and self-injection. The project provides an opportunity to catalyze change toward the vision for women in Family Planning 2020 countries to have the autonomy and be empowered to make and act on their family planning decisions through expanded choice and access to contraceptive products. Under this award, Jhpiego is conducting implementation research in two districts of Punjab to: 1) learn how best to introduce DMPA-SC and self-injection into a specific market to expand contraceptive options available to women and girls, taking into account health system characteristics as well as women and girls’ needs, interest in self-injection and ability to start and continue use; and 2) understand the demand for self-injection when DMPA-SC is offered alongside a range of other methods.

With funding from UNFPA, Jhpiego supports the development of an integrated model of family planning (FP) services and counseling in primary health care at five targeted facilities in Islamabad and two in Karachi. Jhpiego is working to improve quality of care by building the capacity of health workers, strengthening facilities and community engagement by training outreach workers, and involving males and youth to integrate FP services into current maternal, newborn and child health services. In Karachi, a community engagement strategy for the facilities includes use of male mobilizers. In addition, Jhpiego and UNFPA are supporting postpartum family planning (PPFP) strategies by training Master Trainers on PPFP and by supporting task shifting/sharing through capacity building of Lady Health Workers to provide first dose of intramuscular DMPA injections in hard-to-reach areas such as Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.