Family Planning

Family Planning & Reproductive Health

Family planning is a stated policy of the Venezuelan government, but the nation has not been able to keep up with the tremendous demand for this critical elective service. In a country whose population has more than quadrupled over the past 60 years, the unmet need for family planning remains enormous. In the state of Sucre, where we work, the teen pregnancy rate is one of the highest in the country, placing it among the highest in the Caribbean basin, and hence in the world.

Venezuelan Women Lose Access to Contraception, and Control of Their Lives – The New York Times
Slowing the “Reproductive Treadmill” in Rural Venezuela: The Turimiquire Foundation Story – Population Connection
Population and Reproductive Health: Views From Latin America and East Africa – YouTube

The Turimiquire Foundation, through our sister organization Fundación ServYr in Venezuela, has helped to re-animate family planning services in the state of Sucre. We have supported and expanded family planning in two public hospitals, several private clinics, urban “ambulatorios” (free walk-in public health facilities), and in selected rural ambulatorios in three counties. We offer reproductive health education, contraceptives, medical procedures, logistic, and administrative support for family planning services and reproductive health workshops. All services are implemented by Venezuelan health care professionals in strict accordance with Venezuelan public health policies.

From 1997 through 2020, we have delivered 169,000+ Couple Years of Protection (CYPs), the metric by which USAID measures family planning achievement, directly serving more than 60,000 rural women and families. We have also offered more than 3200 Responsible Sexuality and Reproductive Health Workshops to more than 59,000 student and adult participants.

THANKS to the Erik and Edith Bergstrom Foundation, we have been able to sustain and extend our family planning services in the face of the intense demand that we are facing down here. We are working to fill the widespread shortage and high cost of reversible contraceptive methods with the stability of longer acting methods, i.e., IUDs, implants, sterilizations. We are also extending our educational outreach through the social media in Venezuela, reaching more young people with information about their reproductive health and our family planning services.

Our impact has been substantive and life-changing.