Family Planning
Access to contraception saves lives
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This page contains key facts and statistics on the subject of Family Planning. Click on 'Overview', 'Facts & Statistics' or 'Stories from the Field' for more detailed information on the topic, in different formats.
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Breastfeeding woman at Bahai camp in Chad
Photo by: Women’s Refugee Commission, 2005
Key Messages
- Family planning is the ability of individuals and couples to anticipate and attain their desired number of children and the spacing and timing of their births. It is achieved through use of contraceptive methods and the treatment of involuntary infertility.1
- Access to safe, effective contraception saves the lives of women, girls and children.
- Family planning plays a crucial role in helping women remain healthy by preventing unwanted or untimely pregnancies.
- Access to family planning information and services is essential to improving women's reproductive health (RH) status.
- Effective contraception prevents unwanted and mistimed pregnancies, which often end in unsafe abortions.
- When women have access to family planning and are able to space their pregnancies, they are better able to maintain good health and attain an education, not only for themselves, but for their children.
- A consistent and accessible supply of RH commodities, such as contraceptives to prevent unwanted pregnancy and condoms to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unwanted pregnancy are necessary for successful family planning.
- At the onset of an emergency, it is important to make contraceptive methods, such as condoms, pills, injectables, emergency contraceptive pills and intrauterine devices (IUDs), available to meet demand. Comprehensive family planning programming should be initiated as the situation stabilizes. This involves training staff, offering community education, establishing client follow-up, and maintaining a contraceptive logistics system.2
- The United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1325, 1820, 1888 and 1889 on Women, Peace and Security highlight the importance of including women in all processes of decision-making and in political and economic reconstruction. Resolution 1889 explicitly refers to the need to ensure women and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health services—including family planning per the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) definition—and reproductive rights to achieve better socio-economic conditions in post-conflict situations.3
- Family planning programs should target women, men and adolescents. Integrating men in family planning efforts greatly facilitates contraception and condom negotiation.
- One of the major consequences of unmet need for family planning services in the developing world is unsafe abortion. The World Health Organization defines unsafe abortion as a procedure for terminating an unintended pregnancy carried out either by persons lacking the necessary skills or in an environment that does not conform to minimal medical standards, or both.4
- Emergency contraception, which does not disrupt an established pregnancy, can reduce the risk of pregnancy if taken within five days after exposure; the sooner it is taken the better, as efficacy decreases with time.5
- An IUD is a form of effective contraception and can be used within 7 days after unprotected intercourse.6
- According to a study conducted in India by Sweet et. al., increasing access to family planning was the most effective individual intervention to reduce pregnancy-related mortality.7
- If contraception were accessible and used consistently and correctly by women wanting to avoid pregnancy, maternal deaths would decline by an estimated 25–35%.8
Contraceptives and Gender-Based Violence
- Existing services should ensure the availability and provision of emergency contraception in light of increased risk of gender-based violence. In addition, other components of post-rape care as defined by the WHO/UNHCR 2004 Clinical Management of Rape Survivors protocol should also be made available from the onset of an emergency.
- While vulnerability of all women to sexual violence is magnified during conflict, young women are especially in need of access to emergency contraception as they are highly targeted, yet are neglected for RH services; especially with EC.
References
Note: Links provided only if resource is available to public.
1 WHO, Selected Practice Recommendations for Contraceptive Use, Geneva, 2004.
2 Reproductive Health in Humanitarian Settings: An Inter-agency Field Manual, Inter-agency Working Group on Reproductive Health in Crises, revised for field-testing, 2010.
3 Women’s Refugee Commission, A Statement on Family Planning for Women and Girls in Humanitarian Settings, New York, November 2009.
4 World Health Organization (WHO), The Prevention and Management of Unsafe Abortion: Report of a Technical Working Group, Geneva: WHO, 1992.
5 For more information on emergency contraception, see relevant chapters of Reproductive Health in Humanitarian Settings: An Inter-agency Field Manual, Inter-agency Working Group on Reproductive Health in Crises, revised for field-testing, 2010.
6 RHRC, Emergency Contraception for Conflict-Affected Settings; A RHRC Consortium Distance Learning Module, 2004.
7 Goldie, S. J., S. Sweet, et al. (2010). "Alternative strategies to reduce maternal mortality in India: a cost-effectiveness analysis." PLoS Med 7(4): e1000264.
8 Curtis, C., D. Huber, et al. (2010). "Post abortion family planning: addressing the cycle of repeat unintended pregnancy and abortion." Int Perspect Sex Reprod Health 36(1): 44-8.
Updated December 2010. Please note: while this site is periodically updated, it is up to the user’s discretion to verify that the facts provided are the most current.
