Family Planning Week Makes a Mark in Ukraine

Volunteers from the "Together for Health" NGO-grantee "Lutsk Volunteers Club" at an event in Lutsk. June 10, 2008. Ukraine’s Ministry of Health in conjunction with USAID’s Together for Health (TfH) project conducted a series of Family Planning Week events from May 19-25 to commemorate International Family Day, which was celebrated on May 15.  Activities focused on the project’s seven pilot oblasts - Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Lviv, Odessa, Poltava, Vinnytsya and Volyn. A new film, “Together Let’s Plan our Family,” produced especially for the occasion by TfH, was a centerpiece of Family Planning Week.  The documentary, which mixes entertainment and education, follows four couples facing choices about family planning in different life situations.  The video was broadcast into homes on local TV, displayed on large plasma screens in the central squares of cities, and shown at educational events for students at universities.  Throughout the week a shorter version was screened at movie theatres prior to the featured film.  TfH educators and volunteers from Centers of Social Services for Family, Children and Youth supported the video with discussion groups and educational events. Other activities in the oblasts included: theatre performances on family planning themes, contests, events for youth, and educational sessions for people of all ages and walks of life.  Oblast Health Departments held press conferences, special programs aired on oblast TV and radio, and articles appeared in newspapers.  A special edition of Tobi magazine, distributed to university students free of charge around the country, featured an article about family planning and reproductive health, which was submitted by the well known pop singers, Vitaly Kozlovsky, Mika Newton and Arina Domski.

<< Back to the list of recent events