Family Planning and Linkages with U.S. Health and Development Goals

In February 2014, the CSIS Global Health Policy Center led a delegation to Ethiopia to examine the progress made and remaining challenges for expanding access to and demand for family planning services. Congressional staff from the offices of Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL), Representative Charlie Dent (R-PA), and Representative Karen Bass (D-CA) participated. Jennifer Dyer, executive director of Hope Through Healing Hands, and Tom Walsh, senior program officer for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, also participated. This report outlines Ethiopia’s health extension program and how health extension workers are providing family planning education and services. The report also gives policy recommendations for future U.S. engagement on issues of family planning in Ethiopia, as well as lessons learned that can be applied in other countries.