The COVID-19 pandemic has limited access to family planning and other essential health care. Country-wide lockdowns and breakdowns of healthcare systems have restricted contraceptive care to the extent that the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates there will be 7 million more unintended pregnancies due to the pandemic.
Brave and committed community health workers have been working on the front lines to get women the family planning services they need. In Mexico, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, five organizations have been using our Family Planning app to provide a combination of distanced and in-person contraceptive counseling. They’ve also been providing Hesperian with valuable feedback on how we can make the app even better. 

As the pandemic continues, we continue to work hard to get the Family Planning app translated into new languages so that more people around the world can access the life-saving information they need. We are proud to announce the release of our Family Planning app in Amharic and Afaan Oromoo! The addition of these two languages will enable our partners in the Ethiopian Public Health Association and Ipas to pilot its use by Health Extension Workers with the Ethiopian Ministry of Health.
Hesperian’s Family Planning app
Our free Family Planning app is now available in Afaan Oromo and Amharic, as well as in English, Spanish, French, and Kiswahili. This app supports frontline health workers, community leaders and peer promoters to provide comprehensive information about different contraceptive options and features a contraceptive method chooser that suggests the best method for a person’s specific needs and circumstances. 
Global Shortage of Midwives
In addition to celebrating the incredible community health workers using our app, we also want to honor the work of midwives. During the pandemic, midwives have been the ones supporting pregnant women, as nurses and doctors are called on to care for COVID patients. However, midwives need our support too. Read more about the projected global shortage of midwives for 2030 and why this is an issue for maternal health. 
Knowledge for action.
Action for health.
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