THE United States Agency for International Development (USAID) recently trained twenty-five (25) nurses and midwives of Bohol Province on Enhanced Usapan, a motivational dialogue on Family Planning. Applauding them for completing the training and see how they apply their newly learned skills, USAID Deputy Mission Director Rebekah Eubanks and Office of Economic Development and Governance (OEDG) Director Jeff Goebel observed their first ever conduct of the Enhanced Usapan.
The activity was held at the Barangay Dao Hall session room in Tagbilaran City where a total of 30 clients in two batches were provided with family planning information and their choice of method. “This is another initiative that affirms USAID’s commitment to support a healthier Philippines. We congratulate the newly trained health workers who have chosen to be among Bohol’s health champions,” said Ms. Eubanks.
At the same venue, Ms. Eubanks and Mr. Goebel also interacted with the trained facilitators and later, awarded their training certificates. Tagbilaran City Mayor Hon. Jane Censoria Cajes-Yap, who also graced the activity told the visiting party that, “I’d like to thank USAID for this program (Enhanced Usapan). It gave us the opportunity to learn safe family planning methods. Rest assured that I will explore the possibilities of strengthening this program. We will not limit it to today’s participants, but we will also include women who are willing to learn more about this family planning information and methods.”
The training in Enhanced Usapan, which began in 2019, is among the technical assistance that USAID’s ReachHealth project provided to the health workers in Central Visayas. The Enhanced Usapan training in Bohol began in April this year and is envisioned to contribute to further increase the uptake of family planning services in the province. This will complement the earlier support given by USAID to community health workers in identifying unmet family planning needs of women and men in their communities.
USAID had also distributed family planning information materials to the rural health units to aid health workers in their discussions with clients who visit the health facilities, as well as promote correct information on family planning and its different options. Further, USAID helped Bohol Province ensure continuous supply of FP commodities through facilitation of delivery and redistribution. (USAID Press Release)
