Family planning: the unfinished agenda
The Lancet Sexual & reproductive health series
Promotion of family planning in countries with high birth rates has the potential to reduce poverty and hunger and avert 32% of all maternal deaths and nearly 10% of childhood deaths. It would also contribute substantially to women’s empowerment, achievement of universal primary schooling, and long-term environmental sustainability. In the past 40 years, family-planning programmes have played a major part in raising the prevalence of contraceptive practice from less than 10% to 60% and reducing fertility in developing countries from six to about three births per woman.
Links to the published Lancet papers
- Sexual and reproductive health: a matter of life and death
- Sexual behaviour in context: a global perspective
- Family planning: the unfinished agenda
- Unsafe abortion: the preventable pandemic
- Global control of sexually transmitted infections
- Sexual and reproductive health for all: a call for action (Summary)