YAAY (Youth for Access to Abortion for Youths)

Introduction

Visible Impact has been implementing Youth for Access to Abortion for Youth (YAAY) an advocacy program to advocate for stigma free and youth friendly safe abortion services at national and provincial level with support from SAAF (Safe Abortion Action Fund) since January, 2020. Despite legalization of abortion, more than half of the abortion is still unsafe in Nepal, and young people are often the most marginalized, mostly due to related stigma. Considering young people as beneficiaries and change agents this project targets young people in order to shift negative attitude and enhance awareness regarding availability of safe and legal abortion for free in Nepal.

Major activities under this project

Unleash Provincial level youth champions on safe abortion advocacy

Five young people from each of the seven provinces have been trained on different aspects of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and Safe Abortion. These 35 young champions have been conducting community sessions and lobby meetings at local and provincial level respectively.

Public support and sensitization

Public Service Announcement (PSA) linking safe abortion and COVID-19 have been produced in seven languages and broadcasted on 13 radio stations. IEC material has been developed in cooperation with National Health Education Information and Communication Center (NHEICC), which is being distributed in all of the seven provinces of Nepal.

Media fellowship

Seven media professionals from around the seven provinces have been sensitized on different issues of abortion and SRHR. They have been producing fact-based and rights based content on abortion through different articles.

Our Impact

Safe abortion is the most controversial component of reproductive health, because public have a negative perception when they are not able to put abortion in rights-based perspectives. One of the major reasons for Nepal’s reducing maternal mortality rate is legalization of abortion. Yet, only 41% are aware that safe abortion is free and legal in Nepal, contributing to Nepal’s stagnant indicator on maternal health and Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR). Hence, promoting conversation and improving access to abortion services will contribute not only to reproductive health, but overall health indicators