The Family Planning 2020 Progress Report says more than 290 million women and girls are voluntarily using modern contraceptives in the world’s poorest countries to avoid or delay a pregnancy.
This represents an increase of 24.4 million women and girls from the 2012 figures.
A new report titled “Commitment to Action 2014-2015,” which detailed the achievements since the landmark 2012 London Summit on Family Planning, said an additional 24.4 million women who were using effective contraceptives, in the past year alone, averted 80 million unintended pregnancies, 26.8 million unsafe abortions and 111,000 maternal deaths.
The report issued by FP2020 and copied to the Ghana News Agency said while significant strides have been made to reach the ambitious goal of enabling 120 million additional women and girls to access rights-based family planning by 2020, its partners must take immediate action to speed up progress.
It said there are still millions of women who want to avoid or delay a pregnancy, but could not access the information and tools to do it, adding that, “overall, the report shows that the effort to reach more women and girls is behind by 10 million in its 2015 projections”.
Countries, donors and organizations like Madagascar, Mali, Nepal and Somalia have joined, as well as private sector partners like Bayer, Merck and Pfizer; the global nonprofit, Management Sciences for Health; and the International Contraceptive Access Foundation continue to assist the global family planning movement, stepping forward with financial, policies or programmatic commitments.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged to increase its commitment to family planning by 25 per cent over the next three years. Marie Stopes International has also committed to double its FP2020 goal, while the International Planned Parenthood Federation, Pathfinder International and Jhpiego have also renewed their commitments.
The report called for the need to close the gap not just for 2020, but for the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by world leaders in September.
It said family planning is a global development priority adding that donor governments have increased bilateral funding for family planning by one-third since 2012.
It said the United States was the largest bilateral donor in 2014, providing $636.6 million almost half (44 per cent) of total bilateral funding; the United Kingdom was the second-largest bilateral donor, accounting for nearly one-quarter of all funding, at $327.6 million.
Dr Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of UNFPA, said “this is a pivotal year in global development. With the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals, the new Global Strategy for Women’s Children’s and Adolescent’s Health and expanded financing mechanisms; we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to chart the course for the world we want. ”
“Access to voluntary family planning saves and transforms lives. It empowers women and offers a pathway out of poverty. When millions more women have access to the modern contraceptives they need to choose whether, when and how many children to have, we will all be closer to achieving our common goals,” he added.
Dr Chris Elias, President of Global Development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Co-Chair of FP2020’s Reference Group, commended the partners of FP2020 for providing millions of women with access to contraceptives.
“Yet our progress, while significant, is not matching our ambition. We need to take a hard look at the data, scale successful programs and invest smartly. I’m confident that we can keep our promise to millions of women,” he said.
Beth Schlachter, Executive Director of FP2020, said “our task is ambitious, but achievable. We know more now than we did three years ago and have data and on-the-ground experience to show what works and what doesn’t work. Through this global partnership, we have learned that we can make an enormous difference, but we must work together to empower women and girls to plan their own lives, families and futures.”