Welcome to the USAID-funded Health Policy Plus (HP+) project website.
Links to documents and external sites open in a new window.
Links to documents and external sites open in a new window.
In Madagascar, HP+ has supported seven government ministries over the past several years as they committed to implementing the country’s Demographic Dividend Roadmap, demonstrating multisectoral support of efforts aimed at achieving the demographic dividend. The roadmap is centered around four pillars: health and family planning, education, employment, and governance. Under each pillar, the roadmap monitoring plan details key actions to take to attain the demographic dividend and indicators to measure progress throughout implementation. The plan serves as an implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and decision-making tool for stakeholders from the seven government ministries, private sector, civil society, and technical and financial partners to ensure the execution of the Demographic Dividend Roadmap in Madagascar.
In Madagascar, seven government ministries have signed an official commitment letter agreeing to implement the country’s Demographic Dividend Roadmap, demonstrating multisectoral support of efforts aimed at achieving the country’s demographic dividend. The commitments, obtained at a high-level roundtable organized by HP+ in March 2020, are the result of HP+ efforts to support Madagascar’s Ministry of Economy and Finance to finalize a follow-up plan for the roadmap, including details on monitoring and evaluation, budgeting, and resource mobilization for key activities. Moving forward, HP+ will support the demographic dividend team to advocate for and monitor implementation of the roadmap and decentralize it to regional committees.
The Economic Association of Malawi (ECAMA), an independent association of economists, committed in early November 2019, to the management of population growth and investments in youth and articulated the importance of policies that support job creation as key in harnessing Malawi’s demographic dividend. At their annual meeting, ECAMA members published a resolution detailing 10 steps that will improve human development. Health Policy Plus provided evidence from RAPID to support the Ministry of Health and Population’s planning team make a case for the integration of population in planning. HP+ technical advisor of family planning, Julius Chingwalu participated as a discussant on the population and development panel.
In Madagascar, HP+ has been working to support efforts to harness the demographic dividend as the country’s age structure shifts toward a larger workforce, boosting economic growth. On September 12, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, with support from HP+ and UNFPA, organized the official launch of the country’s Demographic Dividend Roadmap at an event in Antananarivo. The event, which brought together stakeholders involved in coordination of activities aimed at achieving the demographic dividend, was attended by the Minister of Economy and Finance Richard Randriamandrato and actors from the public and private sectors, civil society, and technical and financial partners. At the launch, Randriamandrato formally validated the roadmap and discussed the importance of considering the country’s family planning/reproductive health law in efforts geared toward achieving the demographic dividend. At the end of September, HP+ is supporting the Ministry of Economy and Finance to finalize a follow-up plan, including details on monitoring and evaluation, budgeting, and resource mobilization for key activities.
In late July, close to 100 traditional and religious leaders hailing from 10 West African nations gathered in Burkina Faso to share experiences and renew commitments in implementing innovative strategies to take advantage of the region’s demographic dividend—the accelerated economic growth that can result from changes in the age structure of a population. Among the nine-point pledge announced by the religious leaders is a commitment to advocate with their peers for the acceptance of family planning through use of methods that conform with their values and a commitment to fostering dialogue between couples on reproductive health issues. The forum, organized with support from the USAID-funded Health Policy Plus (HP+) project, “Reaping the Demographic Dividend: Religious and Traditional Leaders Get Committed,” held July 24-26 in Ouagadougou, was attended by the President of Burkina Faso, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré; the Mossi Emperor, Moogho Naaba Baongho; and the U.S. Ambassador to Burkina Faso, Andrew Young. HP+ plans to support the implementation and monitoring of action plans developed during the regional meeting.
HP+ modelling experts provided technical guidance for a new publication by UNICEF called Generation 2030. The report makes a case for investment in children and young people to increase per capita income and improve economic prospects. Scott Moreland and Sayaka Koseki provided guidance to the authors who used DemDiv to run simulations for multiple African countries. According to the population projections in the report, by 2050, the continent will account for 42 percent of all global births and almost 40 per cent of all children under 18. DemDiv continues to be a popular tool being used by a range of players. Scott Moreland is currently reviewing a manuscript on a Mali application for a journal and is preparing a paper for Afrique Contemporaine, a publication of AFD, based on presentations he made last spring in Paris and recently in Cape Town at 2017 International Population Conference.
This World Population Day, the USAID-funded Health Policy Plus project produced an online slideshow featuring responses to the question, "How can family planning investments help your country achieve the Sustainable Development Goals?" Olive Mtema, HP+ Malawi, responds: “Results from HP+’s DemDiv model estimate that Malawi’s per capita gross domestic product could increase from US$397 (2014) to US$2,148 by 2054 when family planning is included, turning Malawi into a middle-income country around the year 2040.” Responses from Ms. Olive and others are captured in a photo show, and in a blog by HP+ country directors from Malawi, Nigeria, and Pakistan.
USAID’s HP+ AOR team visited Malawi in August, meeting with Youth Net and Counseling (YONECO), a local NGO providing a range of HIV-related services for children, youth, and women. While at the YONECO Chinamwali drop-in center, HP+ and USAID staff members were able to see how the 2015–2010 Youth Friendly Health Services (YFHS) Strategy has been implemented since its development and launch in 2015. The National YFHS Strategy was developed with USAID support under the Health Policy Project, and advocates for investments in youth-friendly health services that will ultimately allow Malawi realize a demographic transition for accelerated economic growth. The strategy will ensure that young people complete their education, delay their sexual debut, make informed choices on their sexuality, and transition into healthy young adults as represented in the matrix; and it will reduce the number of children born and minimize HIV transmission.