This project has two components:
Component 1: Country comparison of family planning policies and SRHR plan of actions to provide recommendations for Malaysia
UNFPA has been supporting the integrated sexual and reproductive health (SRH) approach that prioritises access to a comprehensive package of SRH information and services for adolescents and marginalised groups, with an emphasis on addressing the low contraceptive prevalence rate, and ensuring SRH access to all people.
The Malaysian Government adopted its first Family Planning Policy in 1969 and it has not been reviewed since. The Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) Plan of Action (2009-12) was adopted in 2009. Recently, the LPPKN (National Population and Family Development Board) has developed an updated draft Plan of Action (PoA) for SRH relevant across all age groups, including adolescents, which is yet to be endorsed by stakeholders. LPPKN (with the support of UNFPA) has request UNU-IIGH to review these documents and provide evidence-based recommendations based on a mapping of similar policies in other Muslim countries. LPPKN has set up a technical working committee chaired by the LPPKN Deputy Director General to guide the project.
Component 2: Generation of evidence reviewing confinement centres in Malaysia to enable recommendations for policy and/or standardisation regulations development by December 2020
UNU-IIGH will review UNFPA, WHO and other relevant guidance materials to develop a framework for recommended standards of confinement centres and map it against the Malaysian confinement centres for a gap analysis. UNU-IIGH will present the study proposal to the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (MWFCD) and request access to existing databases to support the study.
This project involves the collection of primary data reviewing the quality of confinement centres in Malaysia. UNU-IIGH will differentiate between the qualitative and quantitative data that collected and will apply for an institutional review board. The sampling should enable a national representation of the situation of confinement centres in Malaysia (at least one centre per state/region). Depending
Interviews should be conducted with confinement centres management, authorities that enable centre registration for operations, clients of confinement centres, state health departments (if applicable)