Two-year extension for Canada-funded sexual and reproductive health programme

Canada’s High Commissioner to Guyana, Mark Berman and the United Nation’s Population Fund (UNFPA) Deputy Director for the Sub-Regional Office for the Caribbean, Jenny Karlsen, on Tuesday last, signed a two-year extension of the Canada-funded “Enhancing Quality, Access and Logistics of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights” (EQUAL SRHR).

In a press release from the Canadian High Commission, Berman stated that the extension and accompanying financial resources seek to close the persistent gaps in sexual and reproductive health and rights for women and girls, adding that with the extension, Canada will now be providing more than CAD$15M in bilateral international assistance to support the wider health sector in Guyana, in areas such as mental health, maternal, newborn and child health, early childhood development and forensic evidence gathering for victims of sexual assault. This, the release added, is in addition to regional Canadian-funded projects and the recent CAD$120M sovereign loan to improve social services in Guyana through the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security.