THE NATION'S family planning agency, FAMPLAN Jamaica, has been lauded by its New York affiliate, Planned Parenthood of Nassau County (PPNC), for its work in promoting reproductive health services at the community level.
"We've been very impressed with the wonderful, broad range of services that FAMPLAN Jamaica is able to provide with a much smaller budget compared to PPNC. They've really done a great job," said Nanette D. Ecker, director of training and international programmes at the Global Institute For Training (GIFT).
Ms. Ecker, who was addres-sing a function held recently in New York, said PPNC was very proud of the partnership with its Jamaican affiliate. According to Ms. Ecker, her organisation was most im-pressed with FAMPLAN's community outreach initiatives targeting schools, in addition to its reproductive health services and birth control programmes.
Ms. Ecker noted that since the two agencies were twinned in l999, they have engaged in an ongoing series of exchange visits to learn from and about the different cultures and the types of programmes and services offered.
Meanwhile, she informed that the GIFT programme had so far benefited some 14,000 parents and youth in a number of parishes including St. Mary, St. Ann and the Corporate Area.
