On 8 April, UNFPA donated to the Ministry of Health of Benin a batch of equipment and medicines worth more than 883 million CFA (equivalent USD 1,500,000) in order to improve the technical equipment of health facilities providing emergency obstetric and neonatal care.

The donation of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, includes a significant amount of contraceptives and a mobile clinic to increase family planning (FP) services and bring the services closer to communities. The donation also includes delivery kits; newborn resuscitation kits; necessary drugs for obstetrical emergencies and HIV screening tests.

With a current 7.9 per cent of contraceptive prevalence rate, Benin aims to reach 20 per cent by 2018. The strategies defined to reach this goal include the availability and the accessibility of the contraceptives. This is the reason why UNFPA has donated a large batch of contraceptives as well as a mobile clinic. In 2015, this will help to meet the needs of 202,000 women using modern contraceptive methods as planned in the national Plan for repositioning FP: "Plan budgétisé pour le repositionnement de la planification familiale 2014-2018 au Bénin". This government initiative was launched on 29 January 2015 in Cotonou by the Ministry of Health.

Handing over the equipment to the Minister of Health, UNFPA Representative in Benin, Dr Koudaogo Ouedraogo said that the donation "is a response to the concerns of the country in improving its reproductive health indicators."

For her part, the Minister of Health, Professor Dorothée Gazard thanked UNFPA for its constant support and pledged on behalf of the Government of Benin, to make a judicious distribution of the equipment. Speaking to the doctors coordinating the health areas, the minister called for mobilization to “make family planning a reality."