Women and girls have a human right to choose whether and when to become pregnant. When they do not have access to high quality contraceptive and fertility care services and information to help them plan their families, their health and well-being can suffer.
Family planning allows spacing of pregnancies and can delay pregnancies in young women at increased risk of health problems and death from early childbearing. Contraception prevents unintended pregnancies, and therefore also helps to reduce the need for unsafe abortion.
Promotion of family planning – and ensuring access to preferred contraceptive methods for women and couples – is essential to securing the well-being and autonomy of women, while supporting the health and development of communities.
We know what works
On the occasion of the Family Planning Summit, a series of Evidence Briefs have been co-published by WHO, UK Aid, STEP-UP, and Population Council. These evidence briefs share crucial data on what works to improve contraceptive services and uptake. They take stock of progress made but also underline what works to improve contraceptive information and services delivery and uptake.
The briefs touch upon a number of issues, including how to accelerate uptake of voluntary, how to address the contraceptive needs of adolescents, how to improve family planning service delivery in humanitarian crises, how best to finance family planning services and programmes, as well as rights-based family planning in low- and middle-income countries, contraceptive supply chains, collaboration across sectors, and expanding contraceptive choice.
Access the Evidence Briefs
Ensuring adequate financing of family planning commodities and services
Improving family planning service delivery in humanitarian crises
Expanding contraceptive choice
Reducing early and unintended pregnancies among adolescents
Accelerating uptake of voluntary, rights-based family planning in developing countries
Ensuring contraceptive security through effective supply chains
Partnering with the private sector to strengthen provision of contraception
Five years of progress
In 2012, the London Summit on Family Planning was held to set global goals for improving the provision of and access to
contraceptive information and services. Over the past five years, countries have made significant progress towards improving access to voluntary family planning services. In 2016, 300 million women and girls across 69 of the world’s lowest-income
countries were using modern contraceptives. As a result of this, more than 82 million pregnancies, 25 million unsafe abortions, and 125 000 maternal deaths are averted every year.
A long way to go – girls and women on the move
Despite these significant gains, countries still have a long way to go to ensure that no one is left behind. Data shows that an estimated 214 million women of reproductive age in developing regions who want to avoid pregnancy are not using a modern contraceptive method.
In addition, there is an urgent need to answer to the specific sexual and reproductive health needs of women and girls who are displaced or living in emergency and crisis situations. Of some 100 million people who were targeted in 2015 with humanitarian aid, an estimated 26 million are women and girls of reproductive age.
Focus on adolescents
The world now has the largest ever cohort of adolescents in history, and it is essential that countries meet their contraceptive needs, to ensure their present and future well-being, and also the well-being of their families and communities. Dr Venkatraman Chandra-Mouli, Scientist at WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research including HRP, will be speaking as a panelist in the plenary session of the 2017 Family Planning Summit to highlight the importance of meeting the contraceptive needs of adolescents. On the occasion of the Summit, a commentary has been published on the Family Planning website which highlights the data gaps and opportunities for action.